Kangas angry, says Firrito

HARD-WORKING North Melbourne defender Michael Firrito says his side is angry at itself in the wake of Friday night's loss to Collingwood.

Despite the stats sheet showing an even contest, the Roos again failed to flatter in front of goal and were wasteful around the ground.

In the end, the side's 11-goal tally was its second highest of the season.

"The boys are pretty flat and disappointed mainly because we got so much of the footy but we kept turning it over and making mistakes," he said.

"We're angry at ourselves. We had opportunities but handballed it too much.

"But, it's not all doom and gloom. We're getting the footy and there are some good signs."

While key forward Aaron Edwards kicked four first-half goals, the remainder of the forwards failed to fire despite 49 inside 50s.

The 25-year-old said poor delivery was to blame and not the forward set-up despite the fact Lindsay Thomas and David Hale again struggled to impact the contest.

"We're not making our forwards job an easier," he said.

"We've got the cattle we just have to use it better."

While beaten, the performances of youngsters Jack Ziebell, Ben Warren and Gavin Urquhart gave North fans something to cheer about.

Firrito said the absence of skipper Brent Harvey, Matt Campbell and Daniel Wells was telling against an injury- free and inform Magpie onball brigade.

"The guys we've lost, there aren't other guys who we can just throw in and take up the slack," he said.

"Our young players will do the best they can and I thought they were terrific against Collingwood."

At 2-4 the Roos face a season-defining match against Port Adelaide next week at Etihad Stadium.

Campbell is likely to return while coach Dean Laidley rated Wells a 50-50 proposition.