'They should be in their own league': All

ONLY one remains, and they will be hard to stop.

Heading into round five, there were four teams sitting unbeaten at the top of the ladder - North Melbourne, Melbourne, Hawthorn and Sydney.

But after a weekend of upsets, only one team remains with an unblemished record - the mighty Kangaroos.

North Melbourne has made it 17 straight games without defeat after making light work of Brisbane in the Grand Final re-match on Sunday afternoon, winning by 29 points.

The Roos now sit equal eighth in terms of the longest unbeaten streaks in VFL/AFL/AFLW history, and are just six games behind Geelong's all-time record of 23 set in 1952-53.

Despite having games against fellow top-eight teams Carlton, Essendon and Sydney in the next three weeks, former All-Australian Kate McCarthy can't see the streak ending anytime soon.

"I'm not even counting them as part of this competition anymore because they're absolutely too good," McCarthy said on AFL.com.au's The Wrap.

"They should be in their own league.

"They've made history because no Grand Final winner has ever won the Grand Final re-match, but they've done it against the Lions.

"They beat the Lions at the contest and then were able to really spread and outwork them and win the uncontested possessions.

"They dominated inside 50s and they won disposals but also won the tackle count. So they were up for the fight.

"They're going to take some beating."

While the Roos were able to get the job done, round five produced a host of upsets.

Undefeated sides Melbourne and Sydney lost to Port Adelaide and Collingwood respectively, and GWS defeated the Western Bulldogs.

"It was a desperate Port Adelaide. Lauren Arnell spoke post-match of how their pressure was up and it was on full display for everyone to see their execution of this pressure," McCarthy said.

"At times, they just had to come in, smother the ball, just make it as hard as they could for the Melbourne players. And that's exactly what they did."

Another huge upset was St Kilda's 52-point thumping of Essendon at Windy Hill. The Saints held the Bombers to just one goal and forward Jesse Wardlaw kicked three goals and had 21 disposals in her milestone 75th game in a performance that saw her selected at McCarthy's Coates Player of the Round.

"I haven't seen Jesse play football like this for quite some time. She's been threatening for quite a while now, but everything came together," said McCarthy.

"And these weren't easy conditions for a key forward either. Windy Hill was, as we all know, windy. It was very windy, very blustery, but she looked like she was seeing the ball like an absolute beach ball out there."

Round five also saw a number of injuries to key players such as Adelaide's Caitlin Gould (wrist) and Brisbane pair Nat Grider (concussion) and Ellie Hampson (shoulder). However, one injury in particular stood out to McCarthy and co-host Laura Spurway.

Young Richmond ruck Montana McKinnon, who was playing just her second game back from an ACL injury, injured her knee against Geelong and there are fears she may have ruptured her ACL again.

"She did her ACL in the pre-season last year after crossing over from the Crows to the Tigers, couldn't play a game obviously with that happening, gets back last week, puts together a performance and then goes out of the game three quarters into this one," McCarthy said.

"It's just not what you want to see for Montana McKinnon. It's not at all and we really hope it's not going to go that way."

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