North Melbourne coach Brad Scott has praised his playing group for keeping their cool during their fiery 28-point win over Fremantle at Optus Stadium on Sunday.
The Dockers set about roughing up Kangaroos playmaker Shaun Higgins before the first bounce and throughout the afternoon, while spot fires emerged from several off-the-ball incidents.
The umpires kept on top of proceedings with a number of 50m penalties and reversed a Cam McCarthy set shot after David Mundy made high contact with Scott Thompson in the goal square.
Scott was particularly effusive of Higgins, who defied the close attention to finish with 25 disposals, five marks and five clearances.
ROOS UP TO FIFTH Full match coverage and stats
"Shaun Higgins is as good as anyone I've ever seen at being able to control his emotions," Scott said.
"Freo came after him and I thought he weathered the storm pretty well.
"(He) was influential around the contest (and) enabled us to set up the way we wanted to.
"It was a great challenge for us in terms of that emotional regulation - to be able to stay in the game and not get sucked in to what was going on off the ball.
"Our challenge was to make sure we stayed in control of our emotions.
Forty-five free kicks were paid in total - 24 to North and 21 to Fremantle - including a handful of contentious calls.
The home crowd roared with discontent when Joel Hamling was thrown to the floor without ball in the final term before Shaun Atley gathered the crumb and slotted a momentum-shifting.
Scott pointed towards another incident involving Higgins before defending the umpires.
The Kangaroos coach insisted the free-kick count had no bearing on the result.
"There were a couple that didn't go our way too - trust me," Scott said.
"We had a free kick off the ball which resulted in a Fremantle shot at goal, when Higgins got ironed out off the ball.
"Our players reacted and had a free kick paid against them.
"(It is) rub of the green stuff.
"The way the game was played today, the umpires had a really tough job.
"Free kicks here and there - they very rarely decide games and they certainly didn't today."
FYFE v JACOBS Five talking points
Scott also lauded tagger Ben Jacobs, who went head-to-head with Fremantle skipper Nat Fyfe.
Having claimed the scalps of several prime movers, Jacobs looked set to have his colours lowered when Fyfe notched 13 disposals, nine contested possessions, two tackles and four clearances in the first quarter.
But the 26-year-old changed tack and went about winning his own ball on the way to a near-best-on-ground performance.
Jacobs muted Fyfe's cleanliness at stoppages before finishing with 29 disposals, 18 contested possessions, nine tackles and four clearances.
"(He was) fantastic again," Scott said.
"His flexibility and his ability to able to shift roles within games has become a hallmark of the way he's going.
"I thought Ben, all in all, did what we asked him to do even though I thought Fyfe was influential."
WATCH: Brad Scott's full post-match media conference
Tall defender Sam Durdin showed no ill-effects after clashing heads with Aaron Sandilands in the final quarter, while Kayne Turner played out the game despite copping a knock to the head from Alex Pearce in the third term.
