High-flying North Melbourne have continued their perfect start to the AFLW season after accounting for St Kilda by 26 points at Arden Street.
The Saints made it hard for the Kangaroos in the first three quarters, but North showed why they are premiership favourites as they gradually wore down St Kilda's resistance to win 5.6 (36) to 1.4 (10).
As they did to Geelong last week, the Kangaroos kept the Saints goalless in three quarters, including a scoreless second half, to start their season 2-0 for the second time in three years.
North have now conceded just 19 points in two games in 2021.
Compounding the loss for the Saints was another injury setback for Bianca Jakobsson.
She took no part in the second half with what appeared to be a badly corked back, just three weeks after breaking her collarbone.
Star North quintet Jasmine Garner, Ashleigh Riddell, Ellie Gavalas, Jenna Bruton and Emma Kearney were all instrumental in the victory, while Georgia Patrikios and ruck Rhiannon Watt stood out for the Saints.
St Kilda won the disposal count 226-213 and had more inside 50s (27-25), but were let down by their inefficiency as the Kangaroos won the clearances 24-17 and were much stronger in attack, more than tripling the Saints for marks inside 50 (11-3).
The visitors started brightly, but North's organisation all over the ground, particularly behind the ball, made it very difficult for the Saints to find an avenue to goal.
The Kangaroos booted the first two majors of the game, including a 48-metre bomb from Tahlia Randall after she took a spectacular one-handed mark in what was the play of the day.
The Saints turned the tables and dominated play in the second term, keeping North goalless and creating a clutch of goalscoring opportunities.
But they squandered most of them, including a pair from co-captain Kate Shierlaw, to trail by five points at half-time.
North responded strongly in the third quarter, but St Kilda's backline did a great job in repelling most of their advances, restricting them to just one goal despite having more than double the inside-50s (7-3).
However, the Saints had no more shots to fire in the final term as the well-oiled blue-and-white machine took full advantage to score another two majors.