Despite North Melbourne giving up a big lead in its clash against Geelong, Scott McMahon says coach Brad Scott was optimistic in his post-match review.

“He (Scott) was disappointed, but he found a lot of positives that we could take away from the first half,” McMahon told ABC Radio’s Adam White.

“We were really poor last week (against Collingwood)… leaps and bounds better this week, but obviously we lost the game, so there’s that massive disappointment as well.”

In front by as many as 41-points during the second quarter, the Kangaroos kicked just four goals in the second half to Geelong’s 11.

But McMahon, who had 15 disposals in his first outing of the season believes North is making progress.

“They (the Magpies and Cats) are obviously two finalists from last year, and they are going to be really good teams again this year," he added.

“Today it felt like we took another step forward, especially in the first half with the ball movement and all the running patterns and that type of thing.

“We just dropped off a little bit, or they just came a little harder and we couldn’t over the line.”