After making their introduction to AFLW look easy, North Melbourne have shown they can also grind it out in an ominous sign for their competition rivals.
The Kangaroos remain unbeaten in their debut season after battling their way to a 6.2 (38) to 5.4 (34) victory over Melbourne on Sunday at Casey Fields.
With three home-and-away rounds remaining, the Kangaroos sit four points clear in Conference A and look all but certain to play finals.
Adelaide are second on percentage after handing third-placed Fremantle a 42-point drubbing on Saturday night in Darwin.
Melbourne have slipped to fourth, while defending champions the Western Bulldogs are bottom of Conference A after losing to Brisbane by 32 points.
One of two clubs added to the fledgling competition this year, the Roos flew out of the blocks with convincing wins over Carlton, GWS and the Bulldogs.
The Demons proved to be a considerably tougher ask, with the lead swapping hands before 186cm ruck-forward Emma King slotted a match-winning third goal.
Kangaroos coach Scott Gowans was full of praise for his side's composure when the game was on the line.
"It's one of the things I spoke about after the game. I reckon good sides do that," he said.
"We've been on the road for three weeks - come back for our first home game in our home state. The pressure in that game, any side could fall away in that last quarter but they actually took a big breath and said 'no, for 17 minutes, we're going to battle this out'.
"And they did, and they controlled the footy and the stats started going back our way which is probably what got us the four points in the end."
Brisbane's convincing win over the Bulldogs at Whitten Oval leaves them top of the weaker Conference B, leading second-placed Geelong on percentage.
The Cats secured a scrappy five-point win over Carlton at GMHBA Stadium with Blues spearhead Tayla Harris kicking 0.4 including three posters.
GWS downed Collingwood by nine points on Sunday in Moe to leave the Magpies as the only winless team across the two conferences.
Under the controversial conference system, the top two teams from the two ladders progress to the finals - meaning the third or even fourth-placed team in A might miss out despite having had a better season than the finalists from B.
