North Melbourne coach Brad Scott says his side will continue to attack

DEFIANT North Melbourne coach Brad Scott declared his side won't deviate from its daring, attacking style of play.

Brad Scott

DEFIANT North Melbourne coach Brad Scott declared his side won't deviate from its daring, attacking style of play.

Scott acknowledged that anyone was entitled to question the club over the succession of close losses, particularly blowing big leads, but he said those flaws can't be fixed in the short term.

And he promised a committed Kangaroos approach to the crunch game against Carlton at Etihad Stadium on Friday night.

"I worry about what we talk about internally and what we've got to work on in our game. I've said repeatedly, those things are very clear to us and are still very clear to us. The players know in no uncertain terms what we need to work on. But, unfortunately, these things take time,'' Scott said after training at Arden St Oval.

"The things we've got to fix don't get fixed ovenight. The reality of the situations is had we won all the games that were close losses this year, we'd be sitting level with Hawthorn and Geelong. And we don't feel we're at that level yet.

"Clearly, we have things to fix to get to that level. And that's part of the reason why we've lost a lot of close games.

"But what I'm really excited about and buoyed about is we play an up-tempo style of footy. My philosophy is that we want to play that style of footy because we think it's going to beat the best teams in the competition in September and that's what we're going to keep driving towards.

"We've certainly had some lapses and mentally and physically been fatigued at times that has cost us and we've made some poor decisions. But we're going to keep pushing with the philosophy of the style of footy that's going to beat the best.

"We're not into stop-gap measures, I've never talked about that in the four years I've been at North. We're going to keep pushing towards our ultimate aim.

RIP SHINBONER SPIRIT

"There's no doubt we need to defend better and hold momentum when things aren't on our terms because the reality of our footy at the moment is that we're struggling to hold momentum shifts. And sides are struggling to hold our momentum too.

"To be a good side we've got to be able to take control of a game when it's not going our way, defend a bit better and use it a bit better when going forward.

"I've got great faith in the character of our players and we're going to get a response this Friday night, there's no doubt about that.''

Scott refuted a suggestion that his leaders weren't tough enough to organise the defences when an opposition team mounts a challenge.

"Andrew Swallow is a nice guy, but he's a brutal competitor. Levi Greenwood is a brutal competitor, Jack Ziebell, as you've seen many times, will walk over coals for this football club as will everyone who runs out wearing our jumper at the weekend,'' he said.

"When we talk about Swallow, Gibson, Bastinac, they are some of the elite runners in the competition. I'm better placed to know what we've got to work on and we'll continue to drill it. We're confident our best is good enough and we've just got to fix the other parts,'' Scott said.

"The thing about questioning us as a team, questioning our mental fragility, all the questions that have been asked are valid and we've given people a reason to ask those questions. But what I focus on is us and what we need to do. The questions being asked are valid and the only way we can answer them is with our actions.''

Scott said he didn't shy away from the criticism that reached a crescendo after the Roos squandered a 33 points lead late in the third quarter to lose by 12 points at the Gabba.

"I respect everyone's right to an opinion. We live in a football world where prior to last week's game we were back in the finals race and a really dominant side, best side out of the eight,'' he said.

"We weren't listening too closely then and we're not listening too closely now. We've got some work to do, there's no doubt about that.

"We're more acutely aware of the challenges we face than anyone else. I'm not concerned about the players' state of mind, I'm concerned about their actions.

"Some of our actions have let us down at crucial parts of games and we've got to go and fix that and we're looking forward to Friday night.''