Cam Zurhaar shone in a new role across half-back as North Melbourne franked their best start to an AFL season in a decade with a 75-point thumping of injury-hit bottom side Richmond.

With Paul Curtis kicking a career-high six goals, the Kangaroos logged their greatest winning margin under coach Alastair Clarkson in the 20.10 (130) to 7.13 (55) victory at Marvel Stadium on Sunday.

It lifts them to a 4-2 record and their strongest return through six games since a 9-0 opening to 2016, when they last played finals.

Richmond lost acting captain Tim Taranto (concussion), Sam Banks (collarbone) and Maurice Rioli (hamstring) by halftime, and are 0-6 in their worst start since 2010.

It could have been a different story, with the woefully inaccurate Tigers trailing by 39 points at the main break despite having more scoring shots to that point.

"There's not a hell of a lot of mercy in this game - you've just got to do what you've got to do to win games of footy," Clarkson said.

"We were a little bit fortunate we got the Tigers on the hop in terms of their injuries, but we still needed to go out and perform the way that we wanted to."

Young star Harry Sheezel tallied 39 disposals, seven clearances and one goal in an influential display for North, with Luke Davies-Uniacke (26 possesions), Colby McKercher (26) and George Wardlaw (25) also important.

Usually a threat in attack, the explosive Zurhaar (23 disposals) was redeployed in defence and had a game-high 644 metres gained.

The Kangaroos had no shortage of options in the front half as Curtis, Cooper Trembath (three), Nick Larkey (two) and Zane Duursma (two) kicked multiple majors.

"Zurhaar behind the ball was really important for us," Clarkson said.

"Not that he's experienced in defence, but he's experienced in playing AFL footy, and I thought he acquitted himself really well in that role.

"It helps our back end enormously in terms of both our defence and our attack."

Young gun Sam Lalor stepped up for Richmond in the absence of Taranto and rested star Jacob Hopper, tallying 22 disposals and one goal.

Seth Campbell and Jack Ross (26 touches) added two majors each, but the undermanned Tigers were unable to fight back after blowing too many scoring opportunities early in the contest.

Trembanyama triple-grabber ? pic.twitter.com/l2CTcQQXQ6? North Melbourne FC (@NMFCOfficial) April 19, 2026

"When it starts ticking over you could sense the pressure was building on whoever was taking the next shot," Richmond coach Adem Yze said.

"At halftime it's 2.12 to 10.3 and they were making everything count and we weren't, and it can start to affect the morale of the group.

"When you paint the picture at halftime and (you are winning) all the main KPIs that you want to be in front of, the hardest thing is telling the story when the scoreboard's telling you something different - especially when it's a young group."