Acting captain Drew Petrie has given a blunt appraisal of his performance against Essendon, labelling it one of the worst games in his career.

Petrie had just three disposals, his lowest tally since 2005, while his opponent Cale Hooker was one of the most prominent players on the field.  

“On Saturday I was genuinely ashamed to show my face in public,” he told AFL.com.au’s Andrew Lowther and Nick Bowen.

“That’s my own fault, because I played badly.

“It was definitely one of my worst games for the last five or six or seven years.”

It was a night to forget both personally and from a team perspective, with Petrie admitting it simply wasn’t his night.  

“I was in a funny state mentally. I wasn’t influencing the game. I was trying, not having an impact, going in the ruck, trying, going forward, trying, and obviously not trying hard enough. I wasn’t doing the right things, making silly mistakes.

“You find in some games that whatever you do, wherever you run, you are not putting yourself in the right positions.”

Petrie wasn’t alone. The 39-point margin on the final siren wasn’t reflective of a dominant Bombers’ performance.

“Essendon threw the first punch and it sat us on our heels for the rest of the night. They were more aggressive earlier than us. We sat on our heels and we didn’t fight.

“That competitive instinct wasn’t there. That fight, that mentality of going in head first and winning the footy and knocking blokes over – it wasn’t there.

“Why didn’t we fight? Mentally we just couldn’t bring that fight to the game once we got challenged.”

The skipper says Essendon caught North napping.

“I think we were just a little bit stunned by Essendon’s intensity and their ball-winning ability that we just could not get the game on our terms. Once we couldn’t do that we sort of didn’t really know what to do.”

North managed to hit the lead during the second quarter after a string of goals, but the Bombers’ ball control came to the fore.

“We couldn’t get the ball moving our way, basically because we couldn’t get it off them,” Petrie added.

“We just allowed them to get that 20 metre hit-up pass all night. As soon as that happens, they can just work it the length of the ground without us even touching it.

“They were able to move the ball inside 50 pretty easily and pretty often.”

The Kangaroos were smashed through the midfield, an area it excelled in during 2013.

“Contested possessions; we basically got flogged in that area. They (the Bombers) were harder in the contest and it starts there.

“The contested footy, the clearances, possession efficiency… we were all in the top couple last year, but this game just gone was the complete opposite. We didn’t get the footy to be able to use it in the first place.”

After a forgetful start to the season, the players are all too aware of what needs to be done to turn the tide.

Anything less than a win against the Bulldogs and spotlight will only intensify.

“… we need to show more fight than we did on Friday night,” Petrie added.

“It was pretty harsh post-game on Monday and deservedly so. That’s the nature of the beast sometimes when you play as badly as you do.

“Since we’ve gone through that (review) on Monday it’s fine. We’re training and we’re ready for the Bulldogs on Sunday.

“It’s Round 1. We’ve only lost one game for the year. If it’s a trend then get stuck into us, but it won’t be a trend.”