The Kangaroos return to the grand final stage at Ikon Park on Saturday in a rematch of the 2023 decider against Brisbane.
Last year's opportunity to become North Melbourne's first premiership team this century ended in heartbreak, with the Lions snatching their second flag by 17 points.
It was also North's first appearance in any decider since the men's team won the 1999 flag, piling more anguish on the club's long-suffering fans.
Now, less than 12 months on, coach Darren Crocker has deemed the pain irrelevant.
"We haven't really spoken about last year at all," Crocker said on Friday.
"People like to use the word redemption and that type of thing. For us, it was all about just how we learn, how we get better."
North Melbourne skipper Emma Kearney doubled down on Crocker's sentiments.
"We're not a team that play on emotion," she said.
"If you don't have enough motivation in the grand final then you shouldn't be there."
Lions coach Craig Starcevich has studied a round-one loss to North more than the 2023 grand final. (Joel Carrett/AAP PHOTOS)
The Kangaroos enter their second grand final the clear favourites after an undefeated season, their only blemish being a draw with Geelong in round two.
They sounded an ominous warning in the opening round with a cutthroat performance - defeating the reigning premiers by 44 points after kicking six goals to none in the third term.
"We'd never beaten Brisbane up until that point," Kearney said.
"This season I feel like we belong here, just like Brisbane belong here.
"Last time, not that I was surprised that we made the grand final but we were sort of riding the wave of this momentum, knocking off Melbourne, then Adelaide in the preliminary by a point.
"That confidence is a lot different compared to what it was last year."
After announcing her retirement, Craig Starcevich shares how important Kate Lutkins has been for the Lions ❤️ — AFL Women's (@aflwomens) pic.twitter.com/zNNZVwBH49November 29, 2024
Crocker's Lions counterpart Craig Starcevich admits he has tossed and turned about their round-one defeat as they prepare for a record sixth AFLW grand final appearance.
If Brisbane are to become the first team to claim back-to-back flags, they will have to withstand and nullify North's threats across all lines.
Star goal-kicking midfield duo Jasmine Garner and Ash Riddell are certain to cause mayhem for the Lions, while Kate Shierlaw leads in attack and Kearney in defence.
"We got a good lesson early in the year, didn't we?" Starcevich said.
"There was a fair few things in the first time we played each other this season that we needed to get to work on and I reckon we've steadily got better.
"There's some decent resilience within the group to keep fighting. That's something that our team's pretty proud of.
"We've got some fight and grit about us, although we didn't show it in round one, so that's sort of not us."
Darren Crocker shares why Libby Birch has been a very important addition for the Roos. — AFL Women's (@aflwomens) pic.twitter.com/XhmPnFnkk0November 29, 2024
Both teams will take unchanged teams into the grand final, with North winger Tess Craven overcoming a back complaint sustained in their preliminary-final win over Port Adelaide.
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