JUST 12 games ago, Brisbane and North Melbourne were battling out for the wooden spoon.

The Round 23 match held at the GABBA was long dubbed the ‘Cam Rayner Cup’ and while the Lions lost the contest, eventually taking Rayner with the first pick in the 2017 AFL Draft — nobody predicted the rise of the Kangaroos.

North Melbourne are playing like a top eight team, in fact, a top four team. They sit in 6th position on the ladder, a game behind the Demons in 3rd spot.

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Finals Week 1

It’s hard to believe that the Roos were nearly the wooden spoon winners last year, such their rapid rise, running out 54 point winners against the Lions at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

Shaun Higgins is in career-best form and could well be worthy of a spot in the All-Australian team.

His first half was outstanding and he clamped the door shut on any chance of a Lions comeback, finishing the afternoon with 38 disposals, seven inside 50s and six clearances.

“He’s in supreme form, we know his story well, he was a promising player at the Bulldogs, had a gluttony of injuries but he’s just found real top level footy with the Roos and now consistently with the Roos.” Anthony Hudson said on Fox Footy.

“He’s in career best form,” former teammate Bob Murphy quipped on Fox Footy.

“He always had this form in him but was cruel by multiple injuries. He’s gone to North Melbourne and given it his absolute best.”

Higgins’ game was so good that he nearly broke the Roos’ highest ever disposal number, falling six short of Brent Harvey, Phil Kelly and Ryan Bastinac’s record 44 disposal games.

They didn’t seem fazed by the loss of Jarrad Waite to calf tightness, just minutes before the first bounce, with 14 individual goal kickers for the afternoon.

Waite’s 20-year-old replacement Tom Murphy didn’t look out of place on debut, with the former Dandenong Stingray using the ball well across half back, with 14 disposals and three tackles.

“He’s a pretty switched on kid,” forward Jarrad Waite told Fox Footy at half time.

“When we came down here he was pretty relaxed (before the game) and he’s pretty diligent about the way he goes about it.”

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After 1285 days and a horror run of injuries since having his name called out with pick seven in the 2014 AFL Draft, Paul Ahern showed his class and did enough to suggest he’s going to be a fine player for the Roos.

“He really worked his way into the team by playing really good footy, our brand of footy, so he gets an opportunity,” Waite said.

“He’s pretty classy as well, he’s one of those players that finds space so it’s going good for him.“

The young Lions continue to show promise — there’s no doubting games like today’s would’ve been 100+ point thumping in the past, but the new Lions under Chris Fagan, rarely go down without a fight.

They fought hard after half time, keeping the margin to a respectable figure. Even with only one fit player on the bench for the entire second half.

“It shows good resilience.” Bob Murphy said on Fox Footy.

Dayne Beams had a team-high 32 disposals and booted five goals for the match, as one of the standouts for the travelling team.

Teenagers Alex Witherden (22 disposals) and Cameron Rayner (21 disposals) are only going to get better, but until then — Lions fans will need to show patience.

Chris Fagan is in for the long haul and the Lions want to win games of footy — not wanting to find themselves battling out for what could be the “Jack Lukosius Cup or Sam Walsh Shied” in Round 16 against the current Carlton team who are on the bottom of the ladder.

“At the moment we’ve got Pick 2 … we think we can win a couple on the way in the back half of the year,” Swann said on SEN Breakfast during the week.

“We’d like to win and to be honest that’s what we want to do.”

The Roos and Lions have taken completely different paths since they met in the ‘Cam Rayner Cup’ last year. The Lions will get there but for now it’s the Roos that appear closest to cause some damage in September.

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