NORTH MELBOURNE will be sweating on the fitness of midfield bull George Wardlaw after he left the Round 17 clash with Port Adelaide with an apparent hamstring injury.

Senior coach Alastair Clarkson said the Kangaroos will await further details to determine the severity of the 22-year-old’s hamstring.

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“We’re not sure; he went off with a hamstring, so we’ll get that assessed during the week,” Clarkson said.

Midway through the final term, Wardlaw sprinted to apply pressure on Power defender Darcy Byrne-Jones but clutched at his left hamstring shortly after and made his way to the bench.

It’s a frustrating blow for Wardlaw, who has struggled with soft tissues throughout his young career.

It added an extra layer of disappointment for the 8-8 Kangaroos, with Clarkson disappointed in his side’s overuse of the football.

“It was a real arm-wrestle, and they won,” Clarkson said.

“They got three goals up at half-time, and we arrested that momentum and got back to even keel at three-quarter time, then we gave them back the three goals again.

“At Adelaide Oval you need to take territory and take your chances to move the ball and at different stages we just over-possessed the ball.

“We won contested and uncontested possessions for the game but just didn’t use it in a manner we needed to in terms of getting it forward quickly enough,” he said.

Power senior coach Josh Carr praised his team for the way they fought in the final term when the game was in the balance.

“That third quarter probably got away from us a bit,” Carr said.

“To the boys' credit, at three-quarter-time I think everyone knew what we needed to do and a number of boys stepped up and played a really good last quarter.”

Carr was particularly complimentary of the final term performance of utility Jase Burgoyne, who had a number of important moments when switched to defence.

“We shifted him back in the last quarter, and he deals with that week in, week out with his position,” Carr said.

“He’s spent some time inside over the last month, balancing that out with his wing positioning.

“In the last quarter, to have that challenge of going back… he had some really great moments.”

Carr acknowledged his side’s slow start to the game but was pleased to grind out the victory.

“From conversations right throughout the game, it felt like the players were all in; we just couldn’t quite get something to give that proper spark,” he said.

“All over the ground, it just felt like we were in a better position. 

“We got front-half footy, got the ball inside-50 and were able to kick some goals.”

Spearhead Mitch Georgiades was once again the most dangerous forward on the ground and added another three goals to his season tally, despite being involved in several collisions.

“He’s a little bit sore, Mitch, and he has some other lingering things that he’s dealing with at the moment, so it’ll be touch-and-go to see what happens next weekend,” Carr said. 

Both coaches played a straight bat when quizzed about the record 71 free-kicks paid during the Sunday evening contest.