Frustrated North Melbourne coach Brad Scott has bemoaned his team's "heinous" ball use in its 35-point loss to Richmond at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night.

The Kangaroos led by two points at half-time before conceding four goals in the opening six minutes of the third term, two of which came after defenders Scott Thompson and Robbie Tarrant gave away 50-metre penalties.

Lachie Hansen was responsible for a third 50-metre penalty that resulted in a bad miss by young Tiger Shai Bolton.

Scott said he would examine footage of the incidents that led to the penalties before deciding whether to discipline any of his players.

"It wasn't a good night for us really at any stage of the game," Scott said in his post-match press conference.

"We were really disappointed with the way we were playing at half-time and we didn't get the spike we expected. We got the opposite in the first three-and-a-half minutes of the third quarter.

"We've got to go back and work out whether it was actually undisciplined stuff that cost us or otherwise. 

"Coaches can jump to conclusions and start screaming and yelling and carrying on because of a 50-metre penalty: 'Oh, it must've been undisciplined.' I'm not going to discipline anyone when perhaps it's not warranted; but if it is warranted, I certainly will."

Asked if he thought the game was over-officiated, Scott replied: "I wasn't thinking about it a great deal, I was thinking more about some of the heinous ball use".

Scott lamented that his team had been "badly beaten" in the midfield and declared the Roos' forward entries had been as poor as they have been all season.

The North coach credited some of his team's errors to the Tigers' pressure, but said his players needed to be better.

"It's been pretty good most of the year (but) it was as bad as we've taken the ball forward all year," he said.

"It was a combination of really poor ball use, skill execution, decision making – all the above.

"It was not what we've trained and not what we've produced and displayed so far this year, so it was very disappointing on that front.

"It also didn't give us a chance to defend because the way we turned the ball over going forward, you just can't defend that."

Scott said there were few positives in such an important game for North.

"Not much pleased me at all. We got slaughtered in the centre bounces 18-8 with what should have been a dominant ruckman, we got outworked in transition, we were terrible with our ball use going forward (and) we succumbed to pressure," he said.

"There wasn't much to like about tonight.

"But it should've been a tighter game than it was. Four or five years ago, if we'd played like that we would’ve been absolutely pumped – the game would've been over by half-time. So the foundations, I think, are still pretty good."

The 4-7 Kangaroos have a bye next weekend before returning to Etihad Stadium for a clash with St Kilda.

"We've just got to hang in and reassess where we're at at the halfway point and then load up for a real crack at the second half of the year," Scott said.

"We're certainly not going to die wondering."