North Melbourne coach Brad Scott has labelled his team's forward line "dysfunctional" in Sunday's 82-point loss to Fremantle.
The Roos were comprehensively outplayed at Optus Stadium, booting just nine goals for the match to suffer the second biggest loss of the round.
And Scott said there were a number of areas that needed to be addressed moving forward.
"Ball use is one thing, having a forward line that is dysfunctional … I mean we got the ball back 13 times in our forward half when they did the same about 40 times," Scott told reporters post-match.
"We were beaten by six goals at stoppages, beaten by another six goals basically from turnovers, had an inability to score ourselves, and an inability to defend the turnover when we didn't score.
"They are all a huge concern."
North were beat in several key stats, including clearances (40-27), inside 50s (68-47) and contested possessions (174-147).
But Scott was not in panic mode and expected his side to bounce back after highlighting their positive pre-season.
"That certainly isn't what we've been building to and not the evidence provided through training and the pre-season," the coach said.
"It wasn't one particular area today. It was most of them, and when you have poor games in all of those areas, it can add up to that score.
"Does that mean you're a terrible football team? Well I don't believe that, but I think on the evidence today people will think that and that’s fair enough."
The Kangaroos lost backman Ed Vickers-Willis to a suspected ACL to add to their defensive woes, with Scott Thompson (suspension), Majak Daw (pelvis/hips) and Sam Durdin (finger) all currently the sidelined.
However, debutant Bailey Scott's performance was a highlight, racking up 21 disposals and kicking two goals.
"He just played as we knew he would … he's got a really bright future in the game," Scott said.
"He's a great role model for other young players because he's a great preparer. He's a thorough professional.
"We've got some youth that we'd like to bring in at some point, but I didn't suspect it would be this early, but it may."
