North Melbourne centreman Ryan Bastinac says it's payback time for the Kangaroos in Saturday's AFL clash with Brisbane.

Brisbane's 14-point win in round nine at the Gabba was their first victory for the season; for the Kangaroos it was the one that got away.

Not only did North kick a wasteful 8.11 (59), they handed Jonathan Brown two of his four goals with 50-metre penalties against Scott McMahon and Scott Thompson.

Coach Brad Scott said the penalties were caused by undisciplined play from his defenders and it was the most disappointing loss of the season to date.

After losing seven of their first nine matches, North have mounted a mini-recovery with five wins in seven games to post a 7-9 record going into round 18.

"Any team that beats you earlier on in the year, there's always some kind of payback that you want to get them back," Bastinac said on Friday.

"That was definitely a disappointing week for us.

"The boys were really down that week so we've got to bounce back. That payback always sits in the back of your mind so we'll be doing everything we can."

Brown's heroics in round nine followed an eight-week break to recover from an horrific facial injury and the big forward suffered a similar injury last weekend against Geelong which rules him out of Saturday's game at Etihad Stadium.

"They've got other targets like Mitch Clark up there. Brown's definitely not their team," Bastinac said.

Bastinac, who didn't start his season until round 12 because of a knee injury, says he's working his way back into form in midfield.

The 20-year-old former Dandenong junior is averaging 18.2 disposals per game in six matches.

"I didn't really expect too much coming back," he said.

"I'm still coming to grips with it but I'll slowly build back up and hit some good form hopefully soon."

Another of North's young midfielders, Jack Ziebell, gathered a career-best 41 possessions in last week's win over the Western Bulldogs as North rebounded from their demoralising 117-point thumping from competition leaders Collingwood.

"It's great for Jack to have such a break-out game," Bastinac said.

"The thing with him is going to be putting more games together like that."

While the Lions (3-13) will look to Mitch Clark and Patrick Karnezis to provide marking targets up forward, the Kangaroos are confident Drew Petrie can continue his fine form after a five-goal haul last week for a season's tally of 35.

"Not only Drewie but Aaron Edwards is playing some good footy," Bastinac said.

"If you can give Drewie a big jump at it, he's going to take it nine times out of 10. He's going great for us which is really important."

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