NORTH MELBOURNE 2.3 5.6 7.8 11.11 (77) SYDNEY 2.1 3.3 5.7 7.9 (51)
Goals: North Melbourne: J Waite 3, S Gibson 2, B Harvey, D Petrie, L McDonald, L Thomas, S Atley, T Goldstein. Sydney: A Goodes 2, K Tippett 2, D Hannebery, I Heeney, J Kennedy.
BEST: North Melbourne: Cunnington, Ziebell, Dal Santo, Waite, Jacobs, Goldstein. Sydney: Tippett, Rampe, Kennedy, Goodes, Smith, McVeigh.
Injuries: North Melbourne: D Petrie (head), R Tarrant (groin) replaced in selected side by L McDonald. Sydney: G Rohan (concussion).
Umpires: Matt Stevic, Jeff Dalgleish, Dean Margetts.
Official Crowd: 31,162 at ANZ Stadium.

A year to the day since they'd met at the same venue, this was deja vu in reverse. Pressure had undone North Melbourne in the 2014 preliminary final – relentless, incessant, trademark Swans pressure. On Saturday night, the boot was on the other foot.

That North looked the winner for much of the night shouldn't mask how hard they toiled to get it, absorbing a third-quarter Sydney resurgence to reach the last four in a manner that will harden their belief that they can go to Perth next weekend a nothing-to-lose challenger, and come back a grand finalist.

Coaches can only plan and instruct, players must roll up their sleeves and get the job done. To a man North did this magnificently. Invariably what Brad Scott tried worked too, right down to holding back injecting Lindsay Thomas into the game when he might have replaced a proppy Drew Petrie, then finally cutting the leash that tied Thomas to the bench in the last quarter, and watching him split a goalmouth pack and rifle through a goal with his first kick.

The Swans had been straining to that point just to hang on. With the margin out to 20 points, this great team's resilience was broken.

North's preparedness to put body on the line was at times uncomfortable to watch, no less than when Petrie marked on his chest at full tilt with the game already won, knowing full well that Gary Rohan was coming the other way. Both were slow to get up, but Petrie was back with his bloodied head bandaged to see the job through.

Modern football success is wedded to "team defence", yet North came out like a team intent on playing team attack. If they were to fall at this Homebush hurdle again, it wasn't going to be for lack of intensity, or an inability to absorb it coming the other way.

Josh Kennedy started fresh from a 39-disposal master class in metronomic ball-gathering against Fremantle and, as expected, had Ben Jacobs for company at the first bounce. Thereafter Jacobs shuffled sideways to keep Dan Hannebery company, and Kennedy was looked after by what, at times, felt like half the North Melbourne team.

Jack Ziebell, Ben Cunnington and Nick Dal Santo all put significant time into Kennedy, a collegiate approach to the Swans' talisman that for a half reaped rich reward. Half his 11 possessions to the major break were ineffective, and while his third quarter lift was from a champion's top drawer, a return of 28 for the game was the first time his output had dropped below 30 since June.

The load-sharing was evident in Ben McGlynn's task on Brent Harvey. McGlynn was never allowed to have a clear run at "Boomer", whose teammates took every opportunity to stand by the game's oldest man.

The defence, likewise, gave little away. Adam Goodes took Sydney's only inside 50 mark in the first half, while at the other end North dragged in seven. Kurt Tippett improved that ratio after half-time, but to no avail.

North made an imperfect start. Goodes watched Jamie MacMillan's long, spiral throw after a centre-square free-kick sail over his head, walked out his 50-metre reward and goaled. The Roos kicked into the crowd four times in the first term, and when Petrie juggled a mark he might have been paid at his first contest, he was instead pinged for holding the ball.

Robbie Tarrant's groin tightness in the warm-up gifted Luke McDonald an 11th-hour call-up, and he'd barely had time to lace his lime boots when he tumbled into Hannebery's back for Sydney's second.

The jitters settled, replaced by a sense that patience would be a formidable ally in a tight and tough contest. McDonald bore this out, pushing deep to spear home a first career goal in his 37th game.

Scraps bobbed up like spotfires all night, with the path to the interchange gates especially hostile territory. Rhyce Shaw helped Kayne Turner find the bench but North's in-your-face flyweight showed in a single, ball-winning tackle on Jarrad McVeigh why he was preferred to Robin Nahas in another late selection tweak.

At the end they saluted their travelling fans and left as one, just as they'd played. The "Spirit" lives to fight another day.