North Melbourne coach Brad Scott says there was a "stink" about the Kangaroos' mindset in their 23-point loss to Carlton on Friday night.
The Blues attacked the match with dare and dash that the Roos were unable to match for long passages of play.
North allowed Carlton to take the initiative from the outset and Scott said the main issue was his side's unwillingness to "pay the price".
"If I had to narrow it down to one it would be that footy games are hard to win and to win them in the AFL competition, you've got to pay the price," he said.
"If you're going to win you've got to go out there and win it, you can't hope that the opposition loses it.
"I felt tonight there was a stink amongst our group ... that we were hoping the opposition would lose it.
"That just doesn't work."
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The most damning statistic for Scott was that North conceded 110 uncontested marks to 72.
Kade Simpson grabbed 10 marks – nine uncontested – while Jarrad Waite also hauled in 10 grabs and booted four goals.
Dale Thomas and Chris Yarran (22 disposals, one goal) both took nine uncontested marks, with key forward Lachie Henderson hauling in seven grabs to complement his six goals.
Scott Thompson was North's leading mark-taker with eight.
"There's one statistic that stands out: if the opposition has as many marks as Carlton did tonight without any pressure on them, it's just pretty hard to win a game of footy," Scott said.
"That was the message all week, that we had to go out and win this game because we knew we were playing a galvanised Carlton side.
"Full credit to Carlton, they played really well. They were clearly better on the night but we would have liked to have put up a better performance and challenged them."
The loss relegated North to an 11-7 record and has the Roos' top-four ambitions on life support.
"I've been questioned throughout the week why don't I consider us to be a top-four side when we've beaten the top four sides and it's precisely nights like this," Scott said.
"I've got to keep working on finding the answers.
"You always look in the mirror first, clearly there's something I'm not doing. I haven't found it yet. I will keep working extremely hard on finding out what it is.
"We know the system works because we've beaten the best, it's just developing a strong mindset to get it done all the time. Because it's really clear to me that's the difference between us and the best."
Scott said Ben Brown (finger) was given until the last minute to prove his fitness before Majak Daw came into the side.
It was Daw's first game since he was charged with an alleged sexual assault dating back to 2007 and he had 10 disposals and took five marks.
"I thought Majak, particularly given his personal circumstances, played pretty well tonight," Scott said.
Midfielder Daniel Wells shouldn't be "too far away" once he gets back into full training.
North now has the bye ahead of a tough meeting against Geelong in round 19.
