NORTH Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson says he took plenty from its loss to Melbourne last week, saying the club's ability to dominate the first half against a premiership fancy shows it can compete with the best teams in the competition.
The Kangaroos led by four goals at quarter-time and four points at half-time before being overrun by the Demons at Blundstone Arena.
Clarkson said the first half was a little win, amid a season where North Melbourne has lost 18 games in a row, and believes there are things to gain in the closing weeks of the season, starting with sending two-time Syd Barker Medal winner Ben Cunnington off in style this weekend and former skipper Jack Ziebell later this month.
"There is lots of things to gain. We saw that with last week's game against Melbourne. Collingwood has lost its last two and Port Adelaide its last four on the bounce. Brisbane are spluttering a little bit. Melbourne have won their last five and seem to be the team that's playing the best footy at this point in time," Clarkson said.
"Certainly the first 40 minutes of the game last week, we really served it up to the Melbourne side and could have easily been five or six goals ahead in the second quarter. We were disappointed we weren't able to sustain that for a full four quarters.
"They are the little wins we have along the way. We are searching for little wins within games, hopefully if we can sustain it for longer we might get a W in the next three. There is just so much to get out of the rest of the season."
Former St Kilda and Carlton senior coach Brett Ratten joined Clarkson's coaching panel on a part-time basis during the pre-season and stepped up when the four-time premiership coach took leave in the middle part of the season.
Clarkson said the Kangaroos hope Ratten will remain involved in the football program at Arden Street in 2024 and will sit down with the Carlton great at the end of the season.
"Ratts' brief pretty much was can you come in and help us out three days a week and plant a few trees in between," he said.
"He had a tumultuous previous six months before coming to North Melbourne; that's been well documented. It's a tough caper to fall out of a footy club once and he has fallen out twice.
"We asked him to come back here for 12 months to help us out. That will expire in a month's time and we'll sit down with him at the end of the year and see what he wants to do. We'd love to have him involved at the footy club, but we've got to work out if the moons align for him, too."