North Melbourne coach Brad Scott saw just one redeeming feature in his side's loss to Richmond: if the Roos had put in a similar effort a few years back they would have been flogged by a lot more.
Instead, an underperforming midfield, poor work-rate and decision making across the field and horrendous ball movement saw the Kangaroos lead by two points at half-time.
But it came as no surprise to Scott when the Tigers ran over the top of the Roos to record a 35-point win at Etihad Stadium.
"Not much pleased me at all," a frank Scott said.
"We got slaughtered in the centre bounces with what should have been a dominant ruckman.
"We got out-worked in transition, we were terrible with our ball use going forward, we succumbed to pressure ... there wasn't much to like about it.
"(But) in the past going back four or five years ago, if we had have played like that we would have been absolutely pumped.
"The game would have been over by halftime.
"So the foundations are still pretty good but it was just a really poor night."
Richmond set up the win with a six-goals-to-one third quarter where the Roos committed three 50m penalties and gave away a free kick that directly resulted in scores.
"Coaches can jump to conclusions and start screaming and yelling and carrying on - 'A 50m penalty, it must have been undisciplined'," Scott said, intimating at least one or two decisions might have been a bit soft.
"But we'll have a look and make sure it was ... I'm not going to discipline anyone when perhaps it's not warranted but if it is I certainly will."
An unforgivable miss by Jarrad Waite streaming into an open goal in the third term and a late comedy of errors by Todd Goldstein, who didn't enjoy a good night despite his 33 hitouts, summed up the Roos' evening.
Despite the loss, which saw them go into their bye round in 13th with a 4-7 record, Scott sees good things coming.
"We're trying to play a style of footy that if we execute what we want to do then we're going to be competitive against anyone," he said.
"But, like the rest of the competition, when you play poorly you can get exposed pretty quickly.
"So we've just got to hang in, we've got to reassess where we are at the halfway point and then load up for a real crack at it in the second half.
"But we're certainly not going to die wondering.
"We want to play a style that if we get it right then we can beat any team in the comp, anywhere."
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