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Tenacious Roos need to bounce at home

North Melbourne midfielder Nick Dal Santo says wins interstate are the building blocks of a successful season, but the club must replicate the same form at home in Melbourne, starting against Gold Coast this week.

The Kangaroos claimed one of the competition's biggest scalps last Friday night with a 13-point win over Fremantle at Patersons Stadium, their first triumph at the venue in seven years.

It was the club's second breakthrough victory in three weeks after breaking a 10-year hoodoo at the SCG with a 43-point win over Sydney in round three.

Dal Santo said the dual victories had given them all the confidence they need, but taking that momentum home could be the difference between making finals and another near miss in 2014.

North Melbourne's four games in Victoria this season have produced wins over the Western Bulldogs and Port Adelaide to go with big losses to Essendon and Collingwood.

"I don't know why to be honest with you, we've just played well and competed really hard and got the result (on the road)," Dal Santo said.

"If you go back to Melbourne and play on your home ground and don't give that sort of effort then you get shown up by anybody, so that's our challenge this week."

The next four weeks will give the Kangaroos the perfect opportunity to find that consistency at home.

Their first challenge will be the plucky Suns at Eithad Stadium on Saturday, after which they will have a bye.

The following week they have another home game against Brisbane, then a trip down to Simonds Stadium to face Geelong in round 10.

Dal Santo predicted this season would deliver a larger number of close games and said the Kangaroos' ability to turn the close losses of last season into close wins would be vital.

"I think it's going to be that sort of season across the board, a lot of close games that can go either way," Dal Santo said.

"Just that ability to execute under pressure and I think we've done that a few times this year already, and been able to run out the game and hold on to close leads.

"So we've got to try and string some good efforts together and see where it takes us."

Dal Santo hailed the effort against the Dockers as a win for their improved ability to pressure opposition ball carriers and convert the opportunities that pressure created.

"It's always a tough trip, I've had some good wins over here in the past and they're ones that you remember and it makes the flight home a lot more enjoyable," he said.

"We were disappointing last week and Freo are obviously a quality team, we really respect the way they've gone about it for a couple of years now.

"To be able to beat them over here is a big tick for us."