The Kangaroos were soundly beaten by a potent Lions midfield on Saturday night and, unfortunately for Harris and his men, their job doesn’t get any easier this week.
A greater challenge looms with North to host reigning premier Geelong at Telstra Dome on Friday night.
Brownlow Medallist Jimmy Bartel, Gary Ablett, Joel Corey, Cameron Ling and Joel Selwood are the names boasted by an outfit keen to continue the form it showed in a strong win over Carlton.
Harris, acknowledging the task ahead, highlighted the importance of an attacking brand of football when the opportunity presents.
"It is a big job," Harris said. "They’ve got stars all across the board.
"I suppose we can’t be too reactive to them, we’ve got to hunt the footy and also try to keep the scoreboard ticking over and also pressure them as much as we can."
Striking a balance of attack and defence – as tagger Brady Rawlings is so often used to doing – will be the key for coach Dean Laidley.
"They’re a very attacking midfield," Harris said of the Cats. "Every week Brady has a role, so I don’t think that’ll change.
"But through the midfield everyone’s got to be accountable and then I guess try to win the footy and make them be accountable going the other way.
"It’s going to be our biggest test for the year … if we win the contested footy this week we’ll be in the ball game."
North Melbourne's prospects would be boosted by the return of Daniel Wells, who Harris believes is a strong chance to return after missing the clash with the Lions with a knee injury.
"Just speaking to him, he’s knee’s coming good so he’s a chance to come back this week which’d be great because we missed him last week," he said.
"He’s very important because he gives us that link-up player and he’s also been getting in and getting his own footy.
"He can also finish off with his skills, and that’s what we lacked on the weekend."
After this week's match, North Melbourne has a tough month with Fremantle (Subiaco Oval), Hawthorn, St Kilda and Port Adelaide (AAMI Stadium).
It's a crunch period that Harris could go a long way to determining his team’s season.
"We probably look in a block of four," he said.
"We’ll try to win all of them obviously, but if we can win two or three out of the next four we’ll really set ourselves up for a crack at the second half of the year and for the finals."
