North coach Brad Scott will encourage his players to “hang in there”, with a tight, see-sawing competition meaning any side can win, on any given day.
The Roos lost to Hawthorn on Sunday in a close-fought affair, but enjoyed periods in which they controlled the game, particularly in the first term.
“We won the first four centre clearances, we were on top around the contest,” Scott told the media post-match.
“But then they (the Hawks) slowly got ascendency back around the contest.
“That (the contest) was a really good part of the game for us early, but we got beaten in that area, and probably more importantly, we got beaten and it got put on the scoreboard from those clearance losses.”
After three rounds, only two sides are undefeated and all but three have had wins, illustrating the evenness of the competition.
Scott said North must continue to work hard and stick to their plan for longer periods, and the results will come.
“It’s a long season. It’s been a tough start for us, but the competition is just see-sawing all over the place,” he said.
“In the first quarter we were able to perform well. Last week we had ourselves in a winning position for most of the day. It’s frustrating, because I can see the signs, and the signs are good, but they are not consistent enough and for long enough at the moment.
“We’ve just got to hang in, because I think the foundation of what we’re trying to do is still pretty sound, but we’re not executing it for long enough at the moment. It’s only for small periods of the game.”
North had more disposals, stoppage wins and contested possessions against the Hawks, with missed opportunities ultimately proving costly.
“We had enough shots today. We just didn’t convert and we didn’t take our chances,” Scott said.
“We’ve just got to make sure that we can put everything in place that we want to put in place, and execute for longer.
“If you stop these two games (Round 2 and 3) at half-time, we’re talking about a few good things.
“The nature of the game is that if you don’t win, you’re disappointed, everyone’s disappointed, but it’s a finer line than people recognise.
“We’ll just hang in and keep working hard, and history tells me that the teams who do that come out alright in the end.”
North had six players in its side on Sunday who weren’t at the club in 2018, with the likes of Jared Polec and Jasper Pittard showing promising signs.
“They are individually performing pretty well. We just need to put it all together,” Scott added.
