NORTH MELBOURNE 4.5 6.8 9.12 11.16 (82) ST KILDA 2.3 3.7 7.7 11.9 (75)
Goals: North Melbourne: B Brown 2, D Petrie 2, M Wood 2, S Higgins 2, B Cunnington, B Harvey, J Waite. St Kilda: N Riewoldt 3, T Membrey 3, J Bruce 2, J Billings, M Weller, S Savage.
BEST: North Melbourne: Cunnington, Ziebell, Goldstein, Jacobs, Thompson, Atley, Swallow, Brown, Macmillan. St Kilda: Riewoldt, Montagna, Newnes, Gilbert, Membrey, Geary, Savage.
Injuries: North Melbourne: D Wells (leg), S Higgins (bruised knee), S Wright (ankle), replaced in selected side by A Mullett. St Kilda: D Armitage (head knock), J Sinclair (corked calf) replaced in selected side by J Lonie.
Umpires: Matt Stevic, Chris Kamolins, Sam Hay.
Venue: Etihad Stadium.

This will be a day recalled for the announcing of a federal election. It was also a day heralding statements in football.

North's campaign launch invokes Gough to say after seven straight respectable wins It's Time.

St Kilda's mantra for several years has been about patience and tomorrow. Their campaign slogan is not yet that it is time so much as it is about time. They are a balance of power team at the moment, not ready to win government in their own right, but they have some appealing thoughts and deserve respect.

This was a game that said as much of the loser as the winner.

North Melbourne was sternly challenged, as much as in any of their six wins to date. They were forced to be honest, but play without liberties anyway. They were required to win it, not lose it, and so their enterprising season continued with a seventh industrious win.

St Kilda lost but were not defeated. They were a side that had been held at arm's length all day, yet found themselves at the last only a fingertip from victory. They were a team that previously might have accepted the better team leading them throughout, but this day they marched back.

For three quarters St Kilda was dogged, but North answered every query. They were taller forward and stretched the Saints defence. They dominated around the ball and had runners on the outside. They moved in drilled precision to the places they should be and had the understanding more than the vision of where to put the ball.

Yet for each moment St Kilda contrived to find ways to go back at them and latterly to go through them.

Come the last quarter North looked likely to be the team to step away, but then they stopped. StKilda had run and North had tired expressions. Four goals in minutes dragged a game into a contest.

Nick Riewoldt first gave the Saints the thought they were in the game when he goaled and reduced North's margin to 20 points. Then the captain fed Jack Billings with a ball that he swept in long from outside 50 a minute later and Tim Membrey marked on the goal line and curled in a set shot for his third of the day. When Aaron Mullett panicked a kick out of defence and the ball was turned over for a Josh Bruce goal suddenly the Saints were only two points down.

North looked bereft. Where there had been run and organised movement now they were static. For three quarters they stifled the Saints moving the ball out of their forward zone. Now North could not find a way clear. The Saints were now winning  around the ball through Leigh Montagna and Jack Newnes and were moving it quickly.

Luke Dunstan snapped a point, another ball was rushed and the scores locked up with two minutes to go.

Todd Goldstein earned a free on the 50m arc when Tom Hickey, who had done well for the day, tiredly tried to make up ground to compete and interfered in the ruck contest. Goldstein's long shot drifted in for a point. North ahead.

The Saints couldn't clear the ball from the kick in and when it came back to them and Mason Wood had a free on the boundary for a set shot at goal there was only 22 seconds to go. He  stood and watched the shot clock on the scoreboard count down his 30 seconds.  While he stood there waiting to kick the siren sounded.

He kicked his goal. The Roos won by seven points.

And so the Roos have  won their seventh game. Things are falling into place for them.

Even when they thought they had an injury – something that has barely happened this year at a club that has meritoriously had 19 players play every game – they didn't.

Shaun Higgins hobbled off in the third quarter with a serious-looking knee injury. He returned 10 minutes later with some strapping and kicked the first goal of the last quarter.

Petrie played his 300th game and with Boomer Harvey is regarded as the soul of this North team, but it is players like Jamie Macmillan and Ben Cunnington who are emblematic of  it: the diligent understudies. It is players like Jarrad Waite and Higgins who symbolise the brave list direction that has elevated them into this position.

All of these players were crucial in North keeping St Kilda at bay.

That the Saints came back at them was instructive of their change. Riewoldt was their best player, as ever, and Montagna was superb. Jack Newnes was good from the start of the day to the finish and Josh Bruce and Tim Membrey found ways to threaten without demanding Riewoldt rescue them.

Both are on long campaigns, Neither is just relying on slogans.