Despite bad weather threatening to put a dampener on the club's third trip to Ballarat this year and with a team minus regulars Brent Harvey, Drew Petrie, Ben Warren and Sam Wright, North were quick to grab the ascdendency at Eureka Stadium.
The Roos kicked the first seven goals of the match and Allison says it was pleasing to see the likes of Jack Ziebell, Liam Anthony, Ryan Bastinac and debutant Ben Speight respond to a challenge from Brad Scott.
"We put it on them this week to look after themselves in terms of their rotations. They took that on board and performed it pretty well. I think they're gelling and getting used to each other so we're pretty happy with the way things are going," Allison said following the match.
"We played a lot of young players today and they did well. They put their hands up, so it will probably cause a couple of headaches for us with selection in a couple of week's time if they keep going that way."
North Melbourne had all the momentum in the first half keeping Hawthorn goalless until late in the second term. A mini comeback in the third quarter was the only joy for the Hawks who lost both Simon Taylor and Brad Sewell to injury during the match.
Corey Jones, Aaron Edwards and Josh Smith made the most of their opportunities up forward for the Kangaroos, relishing the extra game time with Warren and Petrie resting in the stands.
Pleasing also for North Melbourne was the continued improvement of youngster Robbie Tarrant. Given the job on Lance Franklin, the 20 year-old worked hard to quell the influence of the dangerous Hawk.
"It was invaluable for Robbie today to play on a player of the class of Franklin. He's been really good for us in the pre-season games and it's great to see him out there playing footy and gaining experience against senior players. He's really enjoyed it and he's really learned a lot out of it."
The Kangaroos were desperate to work on the areas that might have brought them undone against Fremantle, concentrating on getting the structures and game plan in place rather than trying to negate the influence of the Hawks' midfielders.
"We really just wanted to focus on ourselves today. We didn't want to worry too much about what Hawthorn were trying to do. We had a real focus on the training track during the week to work on a couple of areas, and we were really pleased with how the boys went about it today. They turned up with the right intensity to play and they wanted to put that into place."
Final score:
North Melbourne 12.11.83
Hawthorn: 6.7.43
