BOTH North Melbourne and Sydney will be sweating on scans for star players following an injury-marred match on Sunday afternoon.

Star ruck Ally Morphett was felled with a seemingly serious knee injury within the opening minutes of the Swans' loss to the Roos, and champion half-back Emma Kearney picked up a hamstring injury in the final quarter.

KANGAROOS V SWANS Full match details and stats

Morphett emerged from the rooms after half-time with plenty of ice on the knee, flanked by crutches and saw out the game from the bench.

"She's really good. The way she conducted herself after it happened, on crutches, coming to the bench and just supporting teammates," Sydney coach Colin O'Riordan said.

"We'll learn more after she gets scans and go from there."

The injury forced 19-year-old Maddie Quinn into the ruck, with Taylor Smith pinch hitting, ultimately robbing an already undersized forward line of much-needed height.

Meanwhile Kearney described her injury as "not ideal" but confident in the club's ability to get her back before the year is done.

"It would have been nice to finish on the field, but injuries are a part of footy, and I've had my fair share in the back end of my career," Kearney said.

"We've got such a good high-performance team, medical staff… it's not new to me, unfortunately, but at least I've got the experience to know how to deal with hamstrings."

Celebrating Kearney's milestone at home in front of a packed Arden Street crowd was important for the club, with its inaugural captain donning 'Shinboner No.1' on her guernsey.

"I thought the whole week we set up so well to acknowledge what's been a wonderful career to this point… she'll be remembered as one of the greats of the competition, but also of our footy club," Roos coach Darren Crocker said.

The Swans were largely in the game for three quarters but couldn't get bang for buck on the scoreboard. At three-quarter time they trailed the inside 50 count by just two but only had one goal to show for it, compared to the Roos' six.

"We probably bombed a little bit into the 50… they're such a good team and the way they float back to get there to support, they're just a really hard side to break down," O'Riordan said.

"I thought we set up really strong, we got field position, thought we set up strong defensively, and then probably just the next layer is how does our defence help our offence? And how can we really dive into that midweek."