North Melbourne coach Rhyce Shaw is confident that his team will turn around their form after three consecutive defeats.
“I reckon we stand for something really strong, but at the moment the consistency with that is not there,” Shaw told the Herald Sun.
“It’s a little bit of minute to minute with us, but I’m confident we can find our form and get back on track and really quickly.”
The Roos play on Saturday night, on the back of defeats to Sydney, Hawthorn and the Dogs; Shaw’s worst streak as a senior coach.
The 38-year-old says that his honeymoon period was over after one game in the job, such is the intensity of the role.
But he isn’t letting criticism get to him.
“To be honest, I don’t care what other people say,” he said.
“I’m true to myself and I do the right thing by my players, my coaches and my footy club, so I don’t read too much into that stuff. That doesn’t worry me.”
Shaw says he and the players need to take responsibility for the recent performances.
“We have to own it, the coaches and the players, we have to own what we’re producing.
“It’s not about the scores. As a playing group we want to play the way we want to play all the time.
“When we’re not doing that, we get smashed. Usually when we do it, the scoreboard takes care of itself.
“Pressure comes in the contest, we do that well.
“It’s the next phase. I think coming up here and going through the review and we understand what it looks like. I’m really confident we can turn it around.’’
Saturday’s clash against North’s arch-rivals is one he is looking forward to.
“I’ve embraced that rivalry,’’ he said.
“It will be mentioned this week, it won’t be the sole focus, but it will be mentioned.’’
The opposition enter the clash full of confidence after the manner of its win over Collingwood last weekend.
“I rate them as a really good side,’’ Shaw said.
“I think they’re slipping under the radar a little bit, but they certainly won’t with us this week.
“They’re working hard, they’ve changed their game a little bit, which makes sense, and, yeah, I’m looking forward to it.
“I’m excited about what we can do. If we can put out our best performance, the North Melbourne brand of footy, put the overalls on and work hard at the contest and give ourselves an opportunity outside the contest … yeah, I’m looking forward to it.”
