While admitting North Melbourne lack mental strength, Kangaroos skipper Andrew Swallow believes the problems which are leading to narrow losses can be fixed.

The Roos went down by one point to Adelaide at Etihad Stadium on Sunday night in their fourth narrow heartbreaking loss.

Coach Brad Scott called Sunday night’s performance “diabolical” and Swallow agreed, saying “it wasn’t pretty”.

However, he said after Monday’s team meeting that the players were confident they could solve their issues.

“Everyone was crystal clear on the things that we need to go out and work on and they’re really fixable – they’re not things that we can’t do,” Swallow said.

Asked whether the players were mentally weak, as Scott said after the game, Swallow said: “I suppose, on all evidence, that’s what it seems.

“But I’m confident we can go and fix these things and play some really good football.”

He said North were not responding when they should be at critical times in a match.

“The (opposition) teams are obviously taking some risks and some gambles and they’re paying off and we’re not standing up when they’re doing it,” he said.

“There are times when we need to be a bit more considered with our approach going forward.

“We seem to go away from what we have done and, whether that’s blokes just switching off, it’s a hard one to explain.”

But Swallow said there were lapses throughout games by the Roos, not just at the end of quarters “which are really hurting us”.

Swallow said he agreed the losses would follow them all year but said the club needed the more-experienced players to lead the way.

“There are certain key things which are letting us down – and it starts from the top down,” Swallow said.

“The older guys are the ones who’ve got to take responsibility for it.

“We showed in the first quarter when we are doing (key moves), we are really playing well but we let ourselves down in the second quarter and again in the last quarter.”

On Monday, Scott held the team over for two hours longer than usual as they dissected every minute of the replay of the Crows game.

“It was longer than normal but we needed it,” Swallow said. “There was a lot to go through from the game and we needed to see it.”