North Melbourne coach Brad Scott won't be attending a history lesson any time soon as he attempts to pull off a miracle by guiding his side out of the doldrums and into the AFL finals.
The Kangaroos slumped to 0-5 after coughing up a 29-point lead in their loss to Fremantle in Perth on Saturday night to go down 9.13 (67) to 9.8 (62).
It was their third loss by less than a kick this season, following tight defeats to Geelong (one point) and the Bulldogs (three points).
No team has ever recovered from an 0-4 start to reach the AFL finals under a top-eight system and the Kangaroos appear doomed.
But Scott was defiant - and even a tad moody - when told that history was against his side.
"Is it?" Scott rebuffed.
"Well, last time North Melbourne were 0-4 they won a premiership in 1975.
"So how far do you want to go back in history? But who cares? We've got 17 games to go. So I'm going to start doing maths, not history."
North Melbourne will be sweating on the fitness of ruckman Todd Goldstein (ankle) ahead of Saturday night's home clash with Gold Coast.
Jack Ziebell (leg) and Ben Brown (knee) were also hampered at times against the Dockers, but both are expected to face the Suns.
The deliberate out-of-bounds rule remains a hot topic, with Scott laughing incredulously when Dockers defender Garrick Ibbotson wasn't pinged in the third quarter despite clearly seeking out the boundary.
Scott said the rule is too hard to adjudicate for umpires, conceding it will always be an inconsistent part of the game but he doesn't want to see a last-touch rule introduced, believing it would kill off ruckmen.
"I think stoppages are an important part of our game," Scott said.
"You've got a champion ruckman in Aaron Sandilands playing an All-Australian ruckman in Todd Goldstein.
"And if you start paying a lot of free kicks around the ball and paying deliberate out-of-bounds or last touch out-of-bounds, what do you need a ruckman for?
"We don't want to breed ruckmen out of the game."
While the Kangaroos face an uphill battle, Fremantle can dare to dream of finals action after improving to 3-2.
Former Cats forward Shane Kersten was the hero, snapping a goal with just 44 seconds left to give Fremantle the win.
It came at a cost, however, with midfielder Stephen Hill almost certain to miss next Saturday's derby against West Coast after injuring his right hamstring in the final quarter.
Hill will undergo scans to determine the extent of the damage.
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