North Melbourne coach Brad Scott now has complete faith in his players after they moved within reach of the AFL top eight by beating Port Adelaide on Sunday.

The Kangaroos got their win-loss record (7-6) into the black for the first time this campaign with a 19.15 (129) to 14.9 (93) victory at Etihad Stadium, which now has them outside the eight only on percentage.

Lachie Hansen continued his emergence as a key forward with five goals, while North skipper Brent Harvey was magnificent with 32 disposals, a direct hand in five goals and two of his own including the sealer.

Port's Jay Schulz played the game of his life with seven goals, but the Power's sixth straight defeat has them in 12th spot and needing a near miracle to reach the finals.

North were given little chance of contesting the finals in Scott's first year in charge of a young team, but will enter their mid-season break believing they have come a long way quickly.

"I've got full confidence the players know exactly what they should be doing at all times out on the ground now and that's a really reassuring feeling for me as coach," Scott said.

North dominated most of the game and after a seven-goal third quarter looked to have the game comfortably sewn up until Schulz, Cameron Hitchcock (three goals) and Daniel Motlop (two) made a late charge.

The Power closed to within 15 points at the 18-minute mark of the final quarter, but Scott was delighted with how the Kangaroos again stemmed the flow, following previous wins over the Brisbane Lions and Carlton.

"In the last three weeks there's been opportunities in those three wins where we could have ... been overrun," he said.

"That was a criticism and rightly so early in the year, that when we were challenged we really got exposed and had a lot of goals kicked against us.

"I think it's a great sign of maturity in the group that when they have been challenged the last three weeks they stood up and in fact ran away with the game."

North's next task is playing mighty Geelong, but Scott likened the challenge to the one the Cats themselves faced before they became a super power.

"They'll go down and absolutely see it as a great challenge to play against one of the great sides of all time," Scott said.

"When I was at Brisbane playing Geelong in 2003, Brisbane really physically and mentally punished Geelong that day.

"There was about 16 or 17 Geelong superstars in that side in 2003 and now they're the superstars of the competition, so I see it as an opportunity for our young players."

Port coach Mark Williams was pleased with his side's effort, but conceded the Power's lack of depth had been exposed given the club's injury crisis.

"If you do the mathematics of the players out of our side it says we are OK (for depth) but not good enough," Williams said.

"You always have some injuries, and North have some as well, but when it comes to a critical number and exceeds that it's going to be a real struggle."

Williams was disappointed by the efforts of Motlop, goalless to three-quarter time, and Chad Cornes.

North's home attendances also took another hit, the crowd of 15,109 the third-lowest across the league this season.

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