“There’s no shortcut through to just having this miraculous team overnight,” McCartney told reporters on Tuesday.
“There’s time and patience and a lot of coaching. They’ve drafted well, and developed well and coached well for about three years now and they’re getting the benefits, and good luck to them. That’s how the game should be and it’s the right way to do it.”
McCartney’s team took the points when the teams last met in Round 7, but has won just two games since. North on the other hand has won seven in the same period.
The first-year coach can spot similarities between the fortunes of the two clubs.
“They’re a really good case-in-point the Kangaroos,” he said.
“They were under some siege about ten weeks ago and the common element was they were playing a lot of first and second year players because they had to.
“As their team has matured and they’ve got some people back there, they’re in a good space with a good list that’s just about to come into their prime.”
The Bulldogs fielded 12 players with less than 50 games’ experience in a big loss against St Kilda, and copped a further blow with Daniel Cross ruled out for the season with a shoulder injury.
"At some stage we thought we might go into a little bit of a trough having so many young players in the team at once. When you run into teams that are on the up because they are full of mature, developed bodies, you can get a bit of a whack.
"But no shying away from the situation, there are parts of our game that we're a little embarrassed about. The reason we're embarrassed [is] it’s there for a quarter or it's there for a half, but it’s not there for long enough or strong enough.
"I don’t like losing and I don’t like getting beaten by 70 points. And I don't like seeing players disappointed, and I don't like seeing our supporters as disappointed as they are. But there's a long way to go and we'll do it on the back of young people and teaching them to play the right way."
Easton Wood and Lukas Markovic could be welcome inclusions, with the pair aiming to prove their fitness before Saturday.
