North Melbourne will not start playing it safe to avoid the sort of turnovers that were so costly in its loss to Geelong on Saturday night, ruckman Todd Goldstein says.
North beat the Cats in several key statistics in their round 19 clash, winning contested possessions (125-115), clearances (32-31) and inside 50s (54-52).
But the Roos' disposal let them down too often and Geelong was able to make them pay time and time again.
After the match, North coach Brad Scott said the Cats' ability to score off his side's turnovers had been the decisive factor in their win.
However, Goldstein told AFL.com.au the lesson the Roos had taken out of Saturday night's loss was not that they had to take fewer risks with their ball movement, but that they had to defend better when they turned the ball over.
"We were in the game, we did a lot of things well, but they just hurt us when we turned the ball over. They seemed to score from a lot of them," Goldstein said.
"We've just got to make sure we're set up defensively in case we do turn the ball over, to make sure they don't get that easy score – one, two, three touches and then a goal.
"We're not going to have a go at anyone for stuffing a kick up or anything like that.
"We want to take the game on, we want to be aggressive with our ball movement, but sometimes it doesn't come off.
"And it's what happens behind the ball when we do turn it over that we really have to focus on.
"You've just got to be prepared to defend and not give up easy scores."
Goldstein, who was one of North's best players against the Cats with 18 possessions and 30 hit-outs, said the Roos' intensity on Saturday night had set the standard for the rest of the season.
"We've definitely got some things to work on, but I think that was sort of the benchmark in terms of our attack at the footy and covering off," Goldstein said.
"It wasn't the same way we've been losing, that's what we can't afford to do anymore.
"So we can take a little bit of confidence out of that, but we've got to review this game pretty thoroughly and learn from it because we did make a lot of errors."
