EVERYONE at North Melbourne needs to step up in coach Brad Scott's absence but the club is "excited" by the challenge, vice-captain Jack Ziebell says.

North announced on Monday that Scott would take about four weeks off from coaching to have surgery on a back condition that had become increasingly debilitative.

Ziebell told AFL.com.au it was "not ideal" that the 13^th-placed Roos would be without Scott during a month that was likely to define their 2015 season, but stressed the Roos coach had to prioritise his health and wellbeing.

The midfielder also believed North could resurrect its year when it squares off against West Coast (Blundstone Arena), the Sydney Swans (Etihad Stadium) and Greater Western Sydney (Spotless Stadium) ahead of its bye in round 13.

"[Scott's absence] gives everyone else at the footy club an opportunity to stand up over the next month, we find that pretty exciting," Ziebell said. 

"Obviously Darren Crocker is going to take over as caretaker coach and he's going to do a great job, but it's going to have to be everyone that steps up – from the rookies on our list, to the leadership group, to the coaches.

"It's going to be an exciting month."

Ziebell said North's inability to capitalise on a 39-point half-time lead against Collingwood last Sunday had been "embarrassing".

North essentially lost the match in the third quarter when they allowed the Pies to pile on nine unanswered goals.

Ziebell said the Roos' review of that quarter revealed they had a lot of opportunities to score but wasted them, and too often "invited pressure" with their handballing. 

The vice-captain said the loss also highlighted the club's continued struggle to play four-quarter football, a lack of consistency he believed was principally to blame for North's 4-5 start to 2015 and blowout losses to Hawthorn, Fremantle and Adelaide. 

But Ziebell was confident the Roos could remedy this problem "pretty quickly" and once again challenge the competition's best teams. 

"I know our best is definitely good enough but we've just got to produce that consistently and if we do that then we'll be competitive against the good sides," he said. 

"This week we'll do a lot of work on the track. Our main skills day is on Thursday so we'll fix a few things then that we have to sort out from the review.

"We're looking forward to getting out there this week against the Eagles and trying to put four quarters of consistent footy together because we know if we can do that we're going to be a pretty hard team to play against."