North Melbourne has not been a club afraid to revert to old habits.

In 2001 it re-elected former chairman Allen Aylett a quarter of a century on from his last stint in the job. In 2012 North went back to the well of testing "homes away from home", landing in Hobart having previously experimented with games in Sydney, Canberra and on the Gold Coast.

Hell, this is a club that even hopped back into a former name, ditching the official Kangaroos moniker to reclaim its native North Melbourne title for the 2008 season.

Well, the Roos are at it again, and this time they are reaping substantial rewards because of it.

When Brad Scott arrived at Arden Street in 2010, he was entering a club that had the previous season kicked the fewest points of any team in the AFL. North had won a hard-earned reputation as a dour and pugnacious outfit, but one that lacked the flair, class and potency to match the competition's heavyweights.

That was on-field, but it was equally true off the park. The Roos were proudly wearing the scrappers badge, and it was understandable too, only two years on from holding firm against City Hall's efforts to shift them to Queensland.

But Scott sensed that had to change if North was to reclaim its kingdom of the 1990s. Financially the situation was sound, and North's new facilities at Arden Street were equal to any others across the league.

Speaking to Fairfax Media on New Year's Day 2010, Scott indicated that the club's famed "Shinboner Spirit" had to be put on the backburner.

"It's battling against the odds," he said. "And we can't have that because our players, our new draftees, come into the club thinking that and we are starting behind the eight-ball. We have to change that."

Forget blue and white stripes, North had to go from blue to white collar.

But it was another comment he made that day that proved to be a remarkable portent of things to come.

Dissatisfied with the club's attacking struggles, Scott noted that defensive arm-wrestles were not the only way to win.

"If we can kick 20 goals and the opposition kick 18, we still win," he said.

Scott held true to his word. North rapidly ascended the AFL's attacking ladder. From the low point of 2009, the Roos rose to be the ninth highest-scoring team in 2010, the seventh in 2011 and - on the back of a handball-laden, thrill-a-minute game style - third in both 2012 and 2013.

They had become an exciting team to watch, and those with an eye on TV ratings could sense it. The pioneers of Friday-night football returned to being regular prime-time tenants, having been almost entirely shafted in the preceding few seasons.

There was only one problem. Points for were not translating into further victories. Rather than winning games 20 goals to 18, North was being edged in high-scoring battles.

It had over-corrected, becoming flashy but loose, and left itself too vulnerable to late opposition charges, which in 2013 were more often than not ending in disaster.

Not once in Scott's first four years has North rated higher than eighth for defence. It is hardly coincidental that it has also not finished higher than eighth on the ladder.

Tellingly, during the Scott era the Roos are yet to record a single victory over a team coached by defensively minded pair Ross Lyon or Mick Malthouse. Until last Sunday, they hadn't beaten eternally gritty Sydney since 2007.

In 2014, however, the situation looks to have changed. Scott seems to have realised the urgent need for his outfit to tighten up. From an admittedly small sample, North is playing a different game in 2014. No side has reached triple figures in any of its four games this year.

That only occurred seven times throughout 2013. Despite slumping to eleventh in attack, North Melbourne has three consecutive wins, the last two of which - against Port Adelaide and Sydney - have been particularly impressive.

Against the Swans, North soaked up foray after foray from its opponent. Sixty-six inside 50 entries from Sydney reaped just six goals, and in turn the Roos conquered the wet conditions to break their harbour city drought. It was gruelling and at times dire to watch.

It wasn't sleek, but it was effective. It was the stuff of Shinboners.