Ninth for the past two AFL seasons, North Melbourne showed they might be ready for a top-eight berth after upsetting defending premiers Geelong by 17 points on Sunday.
North led at every change and held a 42-point advantage early in the final term before the Cats closed within 17 points at the 25-minute mark.
Late goals from Kieran Harper and Jack Ziebell, his fourth, eased the tension for the Kangaroos who held on to win 20.11 (131) to 16.18 (114).
The Kangaroos have a 2-1 record after three rounds while the Cats have slumped to 1-2.
Beaten in the contested possessions in the opening three quarters, the Cats hit back hard in the last quarter to boot seven goals to North’s four.
Brent Harvey, skipper Andrew Swallow and Daniel Wells were dominant as the Kangaroos beat the Cats for the first time since 2007, snapping a seven-match losing streak against Geelong.
Aaron Edwards and Ryan Bastinac also kicked four goals for the Kangaroos, with Bastinac booting two in a tense final term.
Sam Wright performed a shutdown role on Geelong’s star forward Steve Johnson, while Tom Hawkins kicked four goals including three in the final term after struggling for three quarters against North’s Luke Delaney.
Harry Taylor had a huge game for the Cats, keeping Drew Petrie goalless.
The Kangaroos kicked 4.5 to Geelong’s 1.3 in the first term to hold a 20-point lead at quarter-time as the Cats battled to shrug off weariness from their Easter Monday clash with Hawthorn.
North carried their momentum into the second term with five straight goals to Geelong’s 4.5 as the Kangaroos increased their margin by a point at halftime.
Geelong were unsettled in the second term by Andrew Mackie’s absence after the premiership defender suffered a cut lip in a marking contest with Lindsay Thomas, who punched the ball on to set up North’s fifth goal.
North scored the opening goal of the third term but, with Mackie subbed out, Geelong hit back as 19-year-old debutant George Horlin-Smith kicked a goal with his first kick.
Podsiadly kicked two of Geelong’s four goals in the third term but the Kangaroos added another seven before the Cats launched a late surge which fell short by 17 points.
Geelong host Richmond on April 22 and the Kangaroos travel to Sydney to play the Swans at the SCG on the same day.