POLISH, corridor, and stoppages.

This was where the game was won and lost on Saturday night, according to North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson, as Sydney blew out the margin in the second half to record a 65-point win.

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"It was pretty spirited, just the difference in the two sides, the polish with the footy," Clarkson said post-match.

"Not sure if the word's bravery, but (Sydney's) willingness to take risks and take the ball forward and use the ball well, that just ended up cutting us to pieces. They nearly teased us to take the ball wide.

"We had more possession than the Sydney side, but they won metres gained by a significant margin. They allowed us to take the ball to positions on the ground that weren't that threatening."

The Roos won the disposal count 393-341, but recorded 19 fewer inside 50s than the Swans, and when they did go into the attacking arc, they struggled to generate dangerous marking targets.

It was Sydney's ability to own the corridor that Clarkson put it down to, forcing his Roos wide and left with narrow options when looking to take that final kick going forward.

"Sydney have been the best side in the competition for the last two years (at) owning the corridor, and they owned it tonight, and we knew that going into the game, the challenge for us was to try to work out how we could get the ball into the corridor more often," Clarkson said.

"But they forced us wide, which was to their credit, and then when the ball did turn over, then it allowed them to trampoline straight through the middle of the ground, which caused a lot of easy, easy metres gained for them."

Cutting back into the corridor was a clear feature of the Swans' game, benefitting from empowered third-gamer Riley Bice and his neat foot skills.

"That's the way he plays," Cox said of Bice.

"We speak to players about the options they can take, some people have a little bit more of a license than others, and Riley's one of those. To be able to execute the way he does, he sees the game really well and for me, it's about if you see it, hit it. Back yourself in and, so far, he's doing really well."

A selection crunch looms for Cox in the coming weeks, with the likes of Justin McInerney and Harry Cunningham close to return from suspension and injury, respectively, but Bice has shown enough to fight hard for his place in the side.

"The way he's playing, I think he certainly warrants that," Cox said.

"I think the thing with Riley is, ever since he got to the football club, he's wanted to learn and get as fit and conditioned as he possibly can for AFL level … he's defending well first, that's the good part about the way he's playing, and then his two-way efforts, to be able to counter with the ball in hand, we know that's one of his strengths."

With Tom Papley the most recently casualty on Sydney's long injury list, Cox was also pleased with the way his group took the news on. There were just 15 players in the red and white who played in last year's losing Grand Final – and one wearing the blue and white in Luke Parker – while there were five players with 12 or fewer games to their name.

"I was really proud of the group," Cox said.

"Throughout the week, getting news about Tom, but the group, especially the young ones. We only had a couple of our leaders out there tonight, so the response that they gave us was really pleasing."

Fortunately for the Swans, they escaped the match unscathed, while Chad Warner was subbed out in the final quarter as management, after being unwell during the week.

The Roos, however, will be keeping an eye on Luke Davies-Uniacke who was hampered by a left hip concern, but played out the game.

"We spoke to him throughout the course of the game, he was OK to continue," Clarkson said.