North Melbourne players face a torturous week on the track after coach Brad Scott labelled the 77-point loss to Adelaide one of the worst during his time in charge.

The damage was done in the first half, when the Roos managed just three goals as the Crows piled on a dozen to lead by 63 points at the main break. A third quarter comeback was short-lived as Phil Walsh's team broke away again late in the game.

RELATED: Petrie - A "pathetic" performance

Scott insisted the club must atone for its "insipid performance" next week against the Brisbane Lions.

"It's about actions, not words. You can rip paint off walls and you can do those sorts of things and the players will get what's coming to them," he said.

"We fumbled the ball like I haven't seen us fumble in my time as coach as North Melbourne; [our] kicking efficiency was horrific.

"Clearly it's mindset, we're better than we were last year physically. Their appetite for the contest was much better than ours – that's an indictment.

"I'm boiling inside but we've got to do something about it.

"We've just got to get back a really aggressive mindset in the contest because really everything else was secondary."

PRESS PLAY above to watch the Scott media conference | YouTube

The Kangaroos were torn apart by Adelaide skipper Taylor Walker, who took 12 first-half marks and finished the game with six goals from 11 scoring shots.

His opponent Joel Tippett was subbed out of the game at the main break.

But Scott said his removal from the game wasn't a punishment, rather an attempt to try and stem Adelaide's midfield dominance.

"[Walker's] a terrific player, he played really well – he got great supply as well so when you combine those two things he's going to be really hard to stop," he said.

"Joel Tippett tried hard. I didn't think his effort was poor; he just was outclassed and 'Tippo' will learn from that.

"We subbed him because we were 63 points down at half-time and we were trying to win the game."