WE spent a good half-season looking ahead to Geelong's clashes with the Western Bulldogs and Hawthorn in rounds 16 and 17 as potential grand final previews. Perhaps we should have waited a month longer.
North Melbourne's trip to Skilled Stadium next Sunday won't have the same amount of fanfare attached.
In fact, as the early game, it won't even be seen on free-to-air television. But right at the moment, it's shaping as an even more authentic dress rehearsal for September 27.
Surely the Kangaroos' traditional role as the undersold and critically unloved participant of the final series has finally been shot to ribbons now.
For they are flying, clearly behind only Geelong as the form side of the competition. The Roos are two points clear in fourth spot, six victories in a row under their belt, the latest a comprehensive dismissal of Carlton's lingering finals' claims.
They'll still have to work hard to hang on to fourth, but should they do so, threaten to turn the carefully constructed theories about how this finals' series is going to pan out on their head.
The consensus has fourth spot as almost a September death knell, the sentence a potentially confidence-shattering qualifying final against Geelong, then, should the drawer of that short straw survive another week, a preliminary final against the Doggies or Hawks.
But that prospect would worry North far less than any of its rivals. Why should it? The Roos came within 13 points of the Cats in round 11, and Geelong played far better that night in one of the highest standard handful of games this season than its other two narrow escapes early on against Port Adelaide and Fremantle.
As for the other two members of the top four, well, North has beaten the Bulldogs, against whom it matches up well, twice already in 2008, beat Hawthorn by five goals in round 13, and should have won its first clash, leading for all but the final 10 minutes. It's a form line to fill it with confidence rather than fear.
Rather, it's the rest who should be worried about North Melbourne. The Kangaroos have the hottest player in the competition, the consistent Brent Harvey, and possibly the best and most underrated coach in Dean Laidley. They have a blend of hardness, skill and versatility, the latter perhaps their most unacknowledged asset, but critical to their success.
Take potential All-Australian Drew Petrie, equally able as a key forward or defender, or like yesterday, as a hard-working ruckman who won 21 hitouts.
Or his ruck cohort David Hale, who unlike many ruckmen, is a genuine threat up forward when off the ball, 18 disposals, eight marks and three goals the sum of his efforts against the Blues.
Like Geelong, North is quietly constructing a defence which can rebound and create its own attacks as much as it repels them. Like Matthew Scarlett, Michael Firrito can take the opposition tall forwards, but operate also as a running linkman, 21 disposals and four inside 50s the evidence to support that theory yesterday.
Daniel Pratt had 18 touches and 12 marks as an attacking defender, too, then there's the reborn Leigh Harding, superb yesterday with his running capacity and ability to creep forward, capitalised upon with three goals.
Up forward, the Roos are surviving fine without acknowledged big power forwards. Eight players are averaging at least one goal per game or better.
Rising stars Lindsay Thomas and Matt Campbell have 61 between them.
Yesterday, three "Hs", Hale, Harding and Harvey, each booted three, and half the team kicked at least one.
Not bad for a side which has been without supposed key goalkicking hopes Nathan Thompson and Aaron Edwards for extended periods.
Which says plenty about this team's depth, too, the loss of a near All-Australian quality ruckman in Hamish McIntosh hardly proving a fatal blow, the loss of a quality defender in Jesse Smith scarcely felt.
In the middle, only Harvey and Adam Simpson are among the AFL's top 70 for average disposals per game. But the Roos are hard where it counts. And even.
Daniel Harris won seven clearances yesterday, the Roos dominating the centre bounce takeaways 23-12.
Brady Rawlings shaded and won more ball than Chris Judd. Daniel Wells is having more consistent input and provides more dash for a team pretty fleet-of-foot. And Sam Power, among the least heralded of this year's crop of trades, is a more-than-handy pick-up.
All of which makes next Sunday's game against Geelong a mouth-watering prospect. Like all sides who come up against the Cats, North Melbourne will get a better idea of where it stands relative to the AFL's absolute best. But it's becoming increasingly obvious that however big is that gap, the Roos are every bit as close, if not closer to the Cats, than their more heralded fellow challengers.
