North Melbourne coach Brad Scott admits he deserves the criticism being levelled at him for his AFL team’s performances.

Scott says reducing North’s gap between their best and worst is his top priority and believes the club can turn their season around – starting with their clash with winless Gold Coast at Metricon Stadium on Saturday night.

But he says he has no issue with those carping at the Kangaroos for their on-field failures as a season which started with promise stands at the crossroads of missed opportunity.

However, Scott said singling out individual players or the club’s leadership group was unfair.

Scott believes the entire group should be criticised for the club’s recent slump to a 4-6 win-loss record – and he should be at the head of the queue.

“To be honest, we all deserve it (the criticism) – starting with me,” Scott said on Wednesday.

“I deserve more criticism than anyone because I coach the side, I pick the players and ask them to play their roles.”

North have also had off-field issues to deal with – the departure of chief executive Eugene Arocca last week soon after their huge defeat by Hawthorn causing many to question the club’s direction.

But Scott said that had no effect on the football department, saying the immediate priority was smoothing the difference between the team’s best and worst performances.

“Something that’s been frustrating everyone associated with North Melbourne is … we’ve shown in games this year we’re very capable when we play our best, but the gap between our best and our worst is far too big,” Scott said.

“That’s what we’ve got to get better at.”

North have elevated midfielder Sam Gibson from the rookie list after some impressive reserves performances, and Scott said he would make his debut against the Suns.

Scott also questioned whether the Kangaroos would use a single tagger to limit Gold Coast skipper Gary Ablett’s influence, saying the job of quelling the Brownlow Medallist needed to be shared.

“He’s a really hard player to tag, so to leave it to one player will be tough,” Scott said.

“I don’t think there are too many players over the last five, six or seven years who’ve been able to stop Ablett one-out. So I think we’re going to need a bit of a team mentality in there.”