North Melbourne copped a double-whammy from AFL scheduling but coach Brad Scott says it's no excuse for a 33-point away loss to Adelaide.
Scott's Kangaroos lost their fourth game in five outings on Thursday night when trumped by Adelaide, who overcame goalkicking yips to win 12.28 (100) to 10.7 (67) at Adelaide Oval.
North entered the fixture after consecutive six-day breaks, and met an Adelaide side who were rested after their bye last weekend.
The difference in conditioning appeared decisive in the last term when the Crows kicked four goals to one, and had 14 scoring shots to two.
"We have had consecutive six-day breaks but we think six days is enough time to recover between games," Scott said post-match.
" ... I think probably the bigger challenge is what sort of break has the opposition had as well, so that is probably the double-whammy there.
"But you saw the footy that was played in the first half and you wouldn't think either team were either a bit flat after a bye or a bit jaded based on a short recovery.
"I don't think it had an influence on the outcome of the game or the way the game was played."
Scott said mathematics prevented the AFL adopting a system where teams rested from a bye then play other teams also coming off a rest.
"The fixture is impossible to sort out. The mathematics just don't work," he said.
"But we knew the challenges we were going to face back in November so there's no excuse on the preparation ... it's just the Crows were too good."
Scott refused to further flame the controversy over his $30,000 fine for alleging umpire bias against Lindsay Thomas after last Friday night's loss to Hawthorn. The Ross were also fined $50,000.
Asked how he he had coped, Scott replied: "I'm fine.
"When the AFL issued their sanction, we immediately put out a press release saying we accept the sanction and we move on ... we won't comment any further," he said.
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