North Melbourne coach Brad Scott admits the bare facts challenge his belief that his young AFL side has no problem playing out a game at full pace.

Last weekend’s loss to West Coast was the second time this season the Kangaroos have given up a big lead to fall by two points.

They led by 27 points at halftime against the Eagles and 15 at the last change.

Against Port Adelaide in round eight, North let slip a 21-point three-quarter time lead.

Scott said he did not subscribe to the theory that the Kangaroos’ frenetic playing style was hard for a young side to sustain, but admitted North had given support to those making that case.

“The evidence is starting to mount that that’s the case,” Scott told reporters on Thursday.

“But I certainly don’t think it’s an issue.

“But the facts are on the table that we haven’t finished off games as well as we would like.”

Scott said when the coaching staff looked deeper, there were clear and distinct causes each time.”

He said last Saturday against the Eagles, it was largely due to West Coast’s class and the imposing performance of Eagles ruckman Dean Cox.

“You probably remove Dean Cox from that game and we win,” Scott said.

“I think it was more to do with some top-line opposition players than anything we were doing.”

Scott said West Coast star ruck duo Cox and Nic Naitanui gradually worked their way on top of North’s Todd Goldstein, after a few costly Kangaroos errors had given the Eagles a sniff.

The Kangaroos meet Carlton in a crunch game at Etihad Stadium on Friday night.

Blues assistant Mark Riley said his players might take some encouragement from the Kangaroos’ failure to finish off opponents, but noted Carlton were also searching for consistency.

“Our job is to find our consistency and it certainly involves defensive pursuits and the unglamorous things in the game,” Riley said.

He said with North’s narrow loss to the Eagles coming after some impressive wins, the Blues were aware they were a form side who could both move the ball and score very quickly.

“You’ve got to hem them in and you’ve got to bring an appetite to defend,” Riley said.

“We had it the other night (against Collingwood), we didn’t have it the week before.”