NORTH Melbourne coach Dean Laidley may not have intended to snub Gold Coast fans after his team's victory over West Coast at Carrara last night, but his comment "we couldn't have cared less if there was no one here" spoke volumes for what he really thought about his team's flirtation with relocation.

The Kangaroos have some concerns coming out of the match, with Brent Harvey, one of the favourites for the Brownlow Medal at $9 before this round, reported for tripping Matt Priddis in the third quarter, and Alan Obst taken to hospital after suffering a punctured lung. Obst is likely to have to make the return journey by road.

Laidley said later: "We didn't talk about the crowd at all. What we did talk about was the support we have at home and all the people — our supporters and members and family and friends — watching us at home, and our performance was for them, not for anyone here.

"Certainly the North Melbourne supporters that came up and watched us, (but) we couldn't have cared less if there was no one here.

"We would have made sure we played well and did what we needed to do for our supporters back home."

Even by Laidley's standards, it was an extraordinarily blunt admission. Having decided to stay true to their traditional base, the Kangaroos are clearly in no hurry to return north, whatever their contractual obligations stipulate.

Laidley was pleased with his troops, especially younger players Michael Firrito and Matt Riggio, and Daniel Harris, who he said played his best game of the year.

"There's a huge upside. We'd like to introduce more of our younger players, but we've lost all of them pretty much in the last few weeks. We've got a pretty long injury list at the moment.

"We made the preliminary final last year. Is that group going to take us all the way?

"I probably wouldn't have thought so, (so) I'm just happy to keep throwing some of these young blokes in and see where we're at."

Eagles coach John Worsfold was pleased with his team's endeavour, and was relishing the opportunity to tinker with what has previously been a settled line-up.

"In the position we're in, we can afford to take a few more risks and try a few more things. We don't have to go out with the same set squad and positional set-ups every week, we can really experiment," he said.

"I think tonight was a pretty good improvement … They played with more confidence, there's no doubt about that, a bit more self-belief, and now they need to build on that."