Brad Scott has refused to blame North Melbourne's inaccuracy in front of goal for its first-round loss to West Coast on Sunday, but accepts the Roos need to improve their efficiency in attack.

Scott's side trailed by just a goal at half-time at Etihad Stadium before the Eagles kicked away to post a comfortable 43-point win, with North missing straightforward shots throughout the afternoon.

The difference between the sides was no more evident than in the fortunes of opposing key forwards Josh Kennedy and Jarrad Waite, with Kennedy kicking 7.0 in a brilliant performance for the Eagles and Waite booting 1.7.

The North coach said the efforts of the forwards at either end said much about the contest.

Watch Brad Scott's full post-match media conference 

"It sums up a pretty large part of it," he said.

"It probably doesn't take into account the other opportunities that we missed. Obviously 'Waitey' got a lot of shots and didn't take the majority of them, but we had other areas of the game where we worked really hard to generate pretty simple opportunities and we just didn't take it.

"That's an issue in and of itself, but unfortunately too many times the ball went straight back down the other end and we got scored against, too. It was a bit of a double whammy in that area."

The Roos dominated play in the first term, registering 18 inside 50s to 11, but led by just nine points at the opening change. The Eagles' efficiency was far better as they moved the ball forward, with Kennedy, Mark LeCras, Jamie Cripps and Jack Darling combining for 16.3 for the clash.

Scott said the Roos were defensively "very poor" across the contest and that their goal-kicking problems were not entirely to blame for the defeat.

"It's too simplistic to say, 'Gee, if we had have kicked straight we would've won', because I don't believe that's the case, but it would have made the game a lot more competitive," he said.

Scott was pleased with his young team's capacity to take it up to the top-four hopefuls in the first half, and said the Roos had West Coast "on the back foot" at different times.

North blooded four debutants, as well as off-season recruits Nathan Hrovat and Marley Williams from rival clubs, and Scott admitted such drastic change to the line-up would bring inconsistencies.

But he added the group of first-gamers would take plenty from the experience and that the club would continue to bring in youth across the year.

"We've said a number of times we may be vulnerable at times game-to-game and quarter-to-quarter, because youth finds it hard to sustain," he said.

"But that certainly doesn't mean we're going to accept it. We'll make the necessary changes to make sure we get the guys who can sustain their effort a little better."

North will get a chance to bounce back from the opening-round loss when it meets Geelong next Sunday at Etihad Stadium.