Did you do any ladder predictions before the season? Where did you have North Melbourne finishing? Pretty low, right? Us too. In The Age's pre-season interactive, none of the six writers questioned – which included this one – had North finishing anywhere above 14th. Two of us pencilled Brad Scott’s side for the bottom of the ladder. Readers fared similarly. North's average position on our ladder predictor was 18th.

Well, seven rounds into the season, the Kangaroos are seventh with four wins and a percentage of 116.8. Two of their victories have come against lowly St Kilda and Carlton, but it’s hard to scoff at beating Hawthorn (fourth ahead of round eight) and Sydney (eighth at the start of the round) at the SCG, even if both of those sides were undermanned. So how has a club widely written off for 2018 after failed bids to land Josh Kelly and Dustin Martin, managed to emerge as a robust opponent?

North Melbourne are up and about.

For starters it’s easy to forget how many near misses North had last year. The Roos won six games in 2017, but lost another five by less than a goal. A percentage of 87.6 was illustrative of a team that wasn’t that far off the pace.

The ground North have made this season has come in defence. Heading into the round they had conceded just 69.9 points per game, the second fewest of any side. Their opponents on Sunday, Richmond, are unsurprisingly No.1 in that category.