North Melbourne coach Brad Scott said he could not recall a better captain’s performance than Brent Harvey’s remarkable form reversal to spearhead the Kangaroos’ 25-point win over West Coast on Saturday night.

Harvey rebounded from a career-low five touches in a horror 104-point loss to St Kilda the previous week to a best-on-ground effort in which he gathered 44 possessions – the most he has ever managed in a single match.

The 31-year-old dominated from the first centre clearance at Docklands, gathering touches at will and booting a goal in the 17.14 (116) to 13.13 (91) victory.

But Harvey’s game may be remembered best for a goal he did not kick in the final quarter.

A lung-bursting seven-bounce run from deep in his own half ended with a long-range kick which sadly clipped a post, rather than delivering the major it deserved.

Scott, who played in two premierships with Brisbane, lavished high praise on his skipper afterwards for his effort to fight back from a below-par effort the week prior.

“That’s what champions do – they bounce back. He’s an out-and-out champion and he proved that today,” Scott said.

“I can’t think of a better captain’s performance than what he produced today. It was fantastic.”

For Scott, it was his first win since taking the helm at North Melbourne and proof the rebuilding Kangaroos may be moving in the right direction under the youngest coach in the AFL.

“We got reward for effort. We’re really confident, very confident, in the way the club’s heading,” Scott said.

“I was really pleased the players responded the way they did. They gain a lot of belief that the things we practised and we talk about, we can get the result.

“We’ve still got a lot to work on, we’ve still got a hell of a lot of coaching to do, we’ve still got to educate the players the way we want them to play.

“But I’ve got to be honest, it’s much better winning than losing.”