It was a familiar sight on Saturday night, as North had its chances to hit the scoreboard more regularly than it eventually did against the Giants.

A final score of 9.9.63 came from 46 entries, and Brad Scott talked afterwards about the need to make better use of its possession.

“We’re winning enough of the ball and we’re doing a few things reasonably well,” Brad Scott said.

“But we’ve got some work to do on our scoring efficiency.

“We’ve been a team over the last few years that’s never had too many issues scoring, and we’re not scoring well enough at the moment.”

Indeed over the past few seasons, North has consistently ranked towards the top of scoring efficiency tables.

In 2015, the Roos were third in inside 50 efficiency, which is defined as the percentage of inside 50’s a side scores from.

In 2014, they ranked first, 2013 it was second and in 2012 – the season of the first finals appearance in Scott’s tenure as coach – it was eighth.

Even up until Round 18 this year, which was the 40-point victory against Collingwood, North’s scoring going forward was passable.

It was at approximately the league average; still acceptable even though it was a decrease on previous seasons. However, since then scoring has become much tougher.

In the last five weeks North has been at the bottom of the league in its inside 50 efficiency.

Although injuries haven’t helped with rotations, running power and line-breaking – in only one of those five matches have the Roos finished with a full bench – it’s undoubtedly one of the main areas to focus on, as Scott admitted.

“We’ve tried a few different things, changed a few different things; there’s been changes of personnel, some forced, some not,” he said.

“In some games this year we’ve kicked ourself out of the game through conversion, but we’re still not generating the shots that we’d like from the amount of ball we’re winning.

“We’ve got a really good chance now with a couple of weeks to do some solid work on that.”

North’s next opponent has been showing the value of scoring regularly from inside 50 entries.

Adelaide is far and away the most efficient side once inside 50, comfortably ahead of the chasing pack in West Coast (second) and Geelong (third).

With much of the Crows’ scoring punch coming from possession starting in their own defensive 50 – no side has scored more points in that fashion – it makes North’s ball use in the Elimination Final even more important.