North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson said the club was "lucky" to be in touching distance of Collingwood at three-quarter time before ultimately being blown out in the final term.
The Kangaroos remained with the Pies under the roof at Marvel Stadium, but the second half was a tale of two stories, with the black and white surge putting the rebuilding club to the sword with accurate kicking in the fourth quarter.
Clarkson was ultimately "disappointed" with how his men wilted to the pressure of the competition leaders, suggesting that, like previous years, they'd done enough.'
"The most significant message is you have to play four quarters, boys - you can't just play three," Clarkson said following the 45-point loss.
"We said right from the get-go, how many games can we be in at three-quarter time, and unfortunately, it nearly seemed like we'd done a good job to do that, so we'll just put the cue in the rack.
"Disappointing that we fell away in the last part of the game."
Clarkson lamented a previous strength of the Kangaroos', which is their clearance work, in particular their centre bounces, led by star ruckman Tristan Xerri among Luke Davies-Uniacke, Luke Parker, Harry Sheezel, Tom Powell and Jy Simpkin.
But when the whips started cracking in the final term, they weren't able to go with the Pies.
"They just got on top, in particular centre bounce clearances in the last quarter," Clarkson said.
"That'd be a part of the game that'd been strong for us up until that point in time. The ease in which the ball moved was disappointing."
After a positive fortnight that yielded a draw (Brisbane) and a win (Richmond), the Kangaroos slumped back to reality, but will get the opportunity to redeem themselves against West Coast in Round 13 after their club bye.
North Melbourne sold a home game to Bunbury Oval in Western Australia, and will take on the Eagles as the hosts in enemy territory.
