IF THE mid-week discussion about the Kangaroos 'tanking' was finding any traction, Saturday's gutsy four-point win over Melbourne in Hobart surely put paid to them once and for all.
Having seen his side hang on against the odds and into the wind during a frantic final quarter on Saturday, Brad Scott was equally thrilled with the courage his young side showed and that they had allowed their actions do all the talking at Blundstone Arena.
"It was a fantastic win," he said. "We had to fight really hard. Melbourne, to their credit, made it a really tough contest.
"We needed guys to step up and that's what you build really strong clubs on and that's what we're trying to build and today was a step in the right direction."
Having described the tanking claims as "laughable" during the week, Scott again railed against the "irrational arguments" aimed at the Kangaroos.
Five talking points: North Melbourne v Melbourne
"I can say all the things that I've said, but really you just bang your head up against a brick wall when you have irrational arguments like that.
"All you can do, and as I've said to the players all week, all we can do is respond with actions.
"I don't think I need to say anything. I think the actions speak for themselves."
WATCH Brad Scott's full post-match press conference
With just four games remaining in a season where finals footy has never been likely, Scott was quick to reinforce his opinion that there's no reward in derailing other clubs' finals ambitions and that the focus at Arden Street is on building for the future.
"What we do want to do is win every game we play because we're about setting a really solid platform for the club going forward and how we go about that is going to be really critical," he said.
"Today I thought we took another step forward in that regard.
"We are being super-diligent in making sure we uphold the high standards we expect and how we go about the next four games is going to be critical to our future."
Scott lauded club captain Jack Ziebell for his efforts in an inspirational final quarter, but he was also pleased with the performance of Tasmanian tall forward Ben Brown (four goals) who again starred for the Roos and is now tied with Lance Franklin atop the Coleman Medal table with 51 goals for the season.
"He's a very complete footballer now," Scott said. "He's a great team man, organises our forward structure really well, he is really thankful he learned from some really good forwards.
"He's developed in so many ways, he's always been a really good offensive threat but he's a really complete player now."
With Jarrad Waite likely to miss a number of weeks with a calf injury sustained in the third quarter, Brown's role is only going to become more important for the Kangaroos in the closing rounds of 2017.
"Clearly Ben is the mainstay down there at the minute," Scott said.
