After an 83-point thrashing, development coach John Lamont has labelled the Werribee Tigers loss a 'wasted opportunity' for several North Melbourne players who were on the cusp of senior selection.  

Lamont said the group left a lot to be desired on Saturday afternoon and let themselves down with a lacklustre effort.

"Looking back on the game the level of energy and spirit was missing and no one was able to make any changes to combat that," Lamont told NMFC.com.au.

"Overall, their (Williamstown's) 19 goals to our 5 is terribly disappointing. We got off to a good start in the first three minutes, we got the first inside 50 but then they made a few mistakes and the players went into their shell.

"It ends up being a missed opportunity, almost a wasted week in your footy career...just a wasted game."

After an encouraging win against an in-form Collingwood just a week earlier, Lamont was dissatisfied with the Werribee aligned players' output and knows they can produce a much better standard of football skill and mental character.

"Their alertness, energy and aggression was missing. Probably across the board, players went into their shell and came away from the game plan and stopped communicating with each other.

"We could have had the world's best game plan but it would not have mattered because the effort wasn't there. If people bring substandard effort, spirit and output, that's not good enough."

With players such as Levi Greenwood, Will Sierakowski and Daniel Currie aiming to push their case for and AFL call-up, the loss on Sunday and the Kangaroos' win will make it difficult in their fight for a spot.

"I'll go into match committee shortly and it makes it very hard to push for them. They went okay but probably didn't show the level of leadership that we needed.

"Having said that...Will Sierakowski went from a wing in the first quarter, into the back half in defence and did okay. Daniel Currie without Majak was supported by Werribee's Ben Brown and went okay with his hit outs. But across the board no one really had an impact or won their position.'

The Roos' Werribee aligned players will now need to redeem themselves and show North's coaches they're capable of producing a much better brand of football, as they come up against Sandringham on Saturday.

"We'll do some self-analysis and zero in on Sandringham and St Kilda and how they're setting up. It's early in the year, hopefully they can learn from it and rebound.

"They have no choice, they'll want to go in all guns blazing next week."