North Melbourne coach Brad Scott said the Kangaroos would be aggressive in the trade market after his side claimed ninth spot on the AFL ladder with victory over Richmond.

The Kangaroos won 15.14 (104) to 13.13 (91) after both sides kicked 3.3 in the final term in the last-round clash at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

Richmond, who could have finished ninth with a win over the Kangaroos, instead ended the season in 12th spot.

However it was an improvement for the Tigers who came from 15th in 2010.

North's finals hopes ended with last week's loss to St Kilda and a win against the Tigers wasn't going to paper over any cracks for Scott.

The former Brisbane Lions hard man has guided North to ninth place in both of his seasons in charge and he laid bare his frustrations after Sunday's game.

"We're not where we want to be, so it's bitterly disappointing that we're not there," Scott said.

"Our skill level and our efficiency with the ball needs to improve. It has let us down at stages this year, both in front of goal and with general field kicking."

Scott said he was keen to get involved in player trades, but it was a complicated process.

"We are absolutely hell-bent on improving our playing list," Scott said.

"We are where are and it's not good enough so we've got to improve our list.

"We'll be really aggressive in trying to do that.

"They're all our players. We don't go in with a mentality that we're going to trade anyone or we're not going to trade anyone."

North's veteran skipper Brent Harvey was best-afield with 31 possessions and two goals.

Richmond small forward Robin Nahas led Brady Rawlings a merry dance and kicked five goals but Rawlings worked hard to gather 24 disposals and was chaired off the field in a fitting tribute following his 245th and final game.

Drew Petrie kicked four goals for the Kangaroos who were handicapped by Richmond's 61-43 dominance of the inside-50 count.

Scott said Rawlings, 30, had served a very tough apprenticeship under coach Denis Pagan at Arden Street after the Tasmanian was the No.15 draft pick in 1998.

"Back in those (early) days, players either got through it or they didn't and Brady got through it with flying colours," Scott said.

"He has won three Syd Barker Medals. He has extracted maximum amount from that talent, and it's considerable talent."

Tigers youngster Dustin Martin had 11 inside-50s among his 23 possessions and kicked two goals in a bustling display.

Hardwick said part of the team's learning curve would be to find avenues to goal when the opposition has numbers back in defence.

"It was just probably our inefficiency of ball use going inside 50," Hardwick said.

"That was unfortunate. Then they'd counter-attack and catch us over the back."

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP