Despite being one of the in-form defenders in the competition and an All-Australian prospect, Scott Thompson isn’t concerned with individual accolades. Instead, he’s eager to help turn the season around for his team.

The 27-year-old rejects claims the North Melbourne playing group is mentally weak, pointing to consistency as the major area for improvement.

“As a team we’ve been struggling a bit and we’ve dropped some close games. I guess it hasn’t been good enough so we’re really looking to pick up in the second half of the season,” Thompson told Channel 10’s Nick Butler.  

“We don’t see it as a mental issue. I can see how everyone else would see it as mental but it’s up to us to prove to everyone that it isn’t.

“We’ve played some really good footy in parts of games but we haven’t had that four consistent quarters, so that’s something we are definitely going to be working on in the second half of the season.”

Narrow losses and an inability to close out games in the balance proved costly in the opening 11 rounds, but Thompson says the Kangaroos are working hard to address those issues.  

“They’re all physical skills we’ve definitely been working hard on at the training track and we’ve put a bit of time into icing the clock now and things like that... just to get those finishing touches to make sure we get a few more wins on the board.

“We see our offensive game as pretty good and when it’s working the first part of the game you keep going with it. We’ve been working on our defence and trying to restrict team's inside 50’s.”

With four wins and seven losses, North’s chances of a September berth are considered slim by many, but Thompson is optimistic.

“I think you need probably 12 wins with a high percentage to make the finals so mathematically it’s going to be pretty hard, but we’re not giving up and we’re going to give it a crack.”

Sunday’s clash against the Dockers provides the perfect chance for the Kangaroos to turn the tide, and it doesn’t come much tougher than a trip to Perth.

“Obviously we haven’t played great footy at Patersons Stadium but the last time we played West Coast at Subiaco, it was a great game. We played well until the last minute,” Thompson added.

“It’s exciting times to head back out there and get some pay back...well it’s not West Coast but it’s a Perth team.”