North Melbourne captain Emma Kearney believes the Kangaroos can improve their list depth in a bid to go one better and win an AFLW premiership. In the club's first grand final, North were overrun in the final quarter by a Brisbane Lions unit still burning from losing last year's decider against Melbourne. Superstar midfielder Jasmine Garner predictably starred to be North's best with 24 possessions and two goals against the Lions. But the Kangaroos were not able to cover the loss of fellow ace onballer Jenna Bruton, who injured her achilles tendon in the opening stages of the match. "I think for us, it's just the the depth of our list and having different people step up in different moments," Kearney said. "We need to have a variety of players stepping up in big moments." Kearney thinks the Kangaroos had to celebrate a historic season before over-analysing what went wrong in the grand final. "You need to have your better players performing to play well," she said. "It's such a long off-season in AFLW, it's not like it's a quick turnaround. "Look, we're disappointed but I think we've got to celebrate the growth of our group." Kearney, who is involved as a development coach with North's men's team, is determined to play on next season and help deliver a flag to Arden St. "It hasn't changed my plans in what I want to do," the 34-year-old said. "I'm in negotiations with the club to extend, so whether we won or lost it wouldn't have made a difference." Kearney praised the involvement of the North supporters in their run to a breakthrough grand final - the club's first since the men won the AFL premiership in 1999. "The club hasn't had the most success in recent years, we know that in the men's," she said. "But one thing that our program in the W space has been been able to do is put bums on seats and put smiles on faces." Australian Associated Press
