North Melbourne’s lackluster efforts after bounce-back wins was highlighted first on NMFC.com.au during the week and the coaches also presented it to the playing group – now with the Herald Sun also running with the story; Jack Ziebell admits there’s simply no hiding from it.

“Absolutely (it stings) — it’s not what you want to stand for as a footy club,” Ziebell told Grant Baker.

“It is good that the boys respond when their backs are against the wall but it shouldn’t have to take the backs against the wall to respond.”

Forced to confront the damning statistics which show the Roos have developed a pattern of winning strongly after a bad loss, only to fall flat the week after, Ziebell said it’s time to ‘put the foot down’ against Essendon on Friday night.

“We’ve got no reason to be complacent at all, considering the season we have had being so up and down, we’ve really got to put our foot down and make sure we get a result (Friday),” Ziebell said.

“For us going forward, it is really important that we bring consistency to our football.”

In the six matches following a win this season, North has allowed its opposition an average of almost 110 points.

In the seven matches immediately following a loss, North has restricted sides to an average of 74 points.

“That’s been our focus this week — making sure our consistency is right and the preparation is 100 per cent ready to go,” Ziebell revealed.

“If that is the case, then we’ll look to repeat the effort we brought out last weekend against Geelong against Essendon.”

According to Champion Data, since 2009 the Roos have won 16 of 19 games following a loss of 50 points or more — putting them No. 1 in the competition for flying the flag. But two weeks after that winning percentage drops to 41 per cent —ranked ninth.

With a favourable draw, North must maintain its rage and continue to keep the foot down if its any chance to make the finals. Any lapse in effort and consistency could see the Roos miss out on the eight.