North Melbourne coach Dean Laidley wants some of his younger players to start getting the respect he believes they deserve.

Lindsay Thomas, Ed Lower and Matt Campbell combined for six of North Melbourne's seven final quarter goals as Laidley's side came from behind to notch a seven-point victory over Collingwood on Saturday night.

Thomas and Lower are 20 years of age and Campbell only just turned 21, with the trio combining for a total of 50 senior games of experience.

But Laidley feels that all three have what it takes to succeed in AFL football and that the football public should start showing them a bit more respect.

"I would like to make special mention to our young guys tonight. Matty Campbell, Lindsay Thomas and Ed Lower in particular," Laidley said.

"Some of our kids really stepped up tonight and I just wish they would get a little bit more exposure and I suppose a little bit more respect from the footy world."

It was not just the younger players that won praise from Laidley, but also the hordes of North Melbourne supporters that ventured to see the thrilling clash.

Much was made of the poor crowd North drew to their home game against Melbourne last week, but Laidley said there was plenty of support for his side at the MCG.

"I thought our supporters were terrific tonight," Laidley said.

"Very loud, very vocal after getting slammed during the week for last week's crowd or lack of it. I thought they were in their droves tonight and I hope we rewarded them with a good performance."

After such a team-lifting win, Laidley believes his outfit is slowly starting to regain the belief that saw it make the preliminary final in 2007.

"I think the belief we had last year may have wavered a bit through the pre-season and everyone was thinking what was going to happen," Laidley said.

"But I think over the past five weeks we have been building up to some pretty consistent performances and its very pleasing to come out with a result like that."