In slippery conditions, North Melbourne's VFL team has suffered its second loss of the season, going down to Carlton by 52 points on Good Friday.

Despite being the stronger side at the coalface for the majority of the day, it was the Blues who were able to dictate the game's pace at Arden Street Oval as they racked up marks across the ground and tired North Melbourne's defence.

In his first game for the season at any level, Callum Coleman-Jones booted the opening goal of the contest, but Carlton answered promptly, and after quarter-time, began to create a buffer out in front.

A four-goal-to-nothing second term in favour of the visitors put the Roos on the back foot, and it was more of the same after the main break with Carlton extending its lead to 55 points on the three-quarter time siren.

George Wardlaw, Jamie Hope and Jacob Edwards all managed to hit the scoreboard in a competitive final term, but the Roos had left themselves too much work to do, with the end result ultimately reading 6.10 (46) to 14.14 (98).

KANGAROOS v BLUES Full match coverage and stats

"They (Carlton) were far too good for us today in multiple facets of the game which was really disappointing," VFL coach Tom Lynch told NMFC Media.

"We had a really positive week on the back of a strong performance last week and unfortunately we were a little inconsistent today.

"They had 123 marks and made us really defend from side to side a lot and it took a lot out of our tanks ... and we weren't able to hurt them going back the other way."

Flynn Perez racked up the disposals out of defence, finishing with 29 alongside Blake Drury who gathered 18 of his own, while Coleman-Jones had 14 touches and four clearances in addition to his major in his return from a plantar fascia tear.

"It was great to have 'CJ' back out there today, he put a lot of work in to give himself a chance to get back probably ahead of time," Lynch said.

"We thought it great for him to get the game time under his belt, so he'll be better from the run, and as the game went on he looked like he was having more of an influence as the game which was pleasing for him."

In midfield, Charlie Lazzaro started the game brightly, winning plenty of footy at stoppages. He tallied 22 disposals, while Wardlaw continued to display his prowess in tight spaces, coming away with six clearances. 

VFL-listed players Connor Downie and Jarrod Lienert both put in solid shifts, finishing Friday's match with 21 disposals apiece.

"Overall as a group we had a number of strong contributors in small parts of the game - a quarter here, a quarter there - but unfortunately as a collective we just weren’t able to have as many guys stand up as Carlton were able to, in terms of being able to play strong, consistent footy.

"There were certainly some guys who had good passages of play but unfortunately we just didn't have enough weight in numbers."

NORTH MELBOURNE     2.2    2.6     3.9    6.10    (46)     
CARLTON       2.5    5.8    12.10    14.14    (98)     

GOALS  
North Melbourne: Wardlaw, Coleman-Jones, Free, Mahony, Edwards, Hope
Carlton: Ronke 4, Lemmey 2, Moschetti 2, Dow 2, Binns 2, O'Keeffe, Cahill

BEST  
North Melbourne: Downie, Watkins, N. Stevens, Hope, Drury, Lienert
Carlton: Dow, Binns, Ronke, Kemp, Plowman

INJURIES
North Melbourne: Nil
Carlton: Nil