North Melbourne coach Brad Scott doesn't regret questioning his team's mental toughness after last Sunday's loss to Adelaide, saying the Roos need to confront their shortcomings head on to turn around their season.

North lost to the Crows by one point after leading by five goals midway through the last quarter.

The capitulation added to a growing body of evidence that the Roos lack composure in tight games and cannot put their foot on the throats of 'wounded' opponents.

The Adelaide defeat followed the Roos' four-point loss to Geelong in round two after they led by 41 points late in the first half, their three-point loss to Hawthorn in round five, and their two-point loss to West Coast after the siren in round eight.

Scott said on Thursday the Roos had had a "fairly confronting week" in the wake of the Crows loss, both mentally and physically.

After a two-hour match review on Monday, Scott said the players had a boxing session on Tuesday and "some confrontational training".

Scott said his players were "very clear" about the areas that had let them down in their 3-6 start to 2013, but now was the time to show they could eradicate them from their game.

"You've got options in terms of hiding away and hoping you don't get in those situations again," he said.

"You want to be a good side. When the good sides play each other they're generally close games, so I welcome the opportunity to play in those games.

"It was a devastating loss - there's no shying away from that - and we haven't stuck our heads in the sand and pretended it didn't happen and laid blame at the feet of other people …

"Now there's no point in me sugar-coating things and saying we don't have a challenge because clearly we do.

"We've got to stand up to that, own up to it, lay ourselves bare and then go about remedying it. The players' response so far this week has been outstanding and I'm sure they'll follow that through on Sunday."

Scott would not be drawn on whether North would make a number of selection changes this week, but said the likely replacements for suspended co-vice-captain Jack Ziebell included Levi Greenwood, Jordan Gysberts and Taylor Hine.

Gysberts and Hine played for North's VFL affiliate Werribee in its Foxtel Cup clash with Queanbeyan on Tuesday night, but Scott said their game time had been carefully managed and both would be available for selection against St Kilda.

Scott said Ziebell would not travel to Utah to train during his three-week suspension as he did last year during a previous suspension, saying his leadership was needed around the club.

Scott hinted the Roos would maintain faith in emerging forward Majak Daw against the Saints despite his quiet form since his six-goal haul against the Western Bulldogs in round seven.

"He's still learning the game, he's going to do some things really well and he's going to struggle at other times," Scott said.

"That's no surprise to us … we've just got to keep working on his game until he's a really consistent AFL player.

"What he's shown over the last four or five weeks is he's got the ability to get there and we've just got to persist with him."

Scott said key forward Robbie Tarrant was at least two weeks away from resuming him from the lower leg injury that has sidelined him since round three.