NORTH Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson lamented the Kangaroos' "dreadful" performance after being thrashed by Fremantle on Saturday.

The Dockers broke the game open with a nine-goal blitz in the second quarter and powered away to a 124-point victory at Bunbury's Hands Oval on Saturday.

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"Fremantle were good and we were dreadful," Clarkson said.

"Perhaps you have a little bit of shame because we want to come over here and be putting on a better performance than we did today.

"That sat us on the back foot early in terms of contest and we never really recovered from it."

Clarkson conceded the Kangaroos failed to adequately handle the break in routine during their mid-season bye last round.

"How often do we see that, that a team is just so poor coming back from a bye and having a rest?" he said.

"You get out of your routine and you get out of your resilient, tough approach.

"We were just nowhere in that space today."

Adding to North's embarrassment, the horror show against Fremantle came in a "home" game it sold to the WA Government.

It was played at Bunbury's Hands Oval, about 175km south of Perth, where the Kangaroos performed far more admirably in a narrow win over West Coast last year.

They next meet the Eagles at Optus Stadium on Saturday in the second of two consecutive WA "home" fixtures.

Clarkson welcomed the chance for the Kangaroos to regroup while spending the week together in the west.

"When you have results like today, the best thing to do is be together and be on the road," Clarkson said.

"I'd reckon it will smarten us all up. If we don't come to a game of footy ready to compete from start to finish, you're going to get your pants pulled down.

"That was certainly the case today, but the beauty of the game is we get another opportunity in seven days' time to try to rectify that.

"But we know exactly where it sits – how hard and tough do we want to be at the contest?"

The dominant performance ensured Fremantle (12-1) will spend a third consecutive week on top of the ladder in pursuit of its maiden premiership.

The Dockers have the bye next round, after which Caleb Serong, Brennan Cox and Matthew Johnson are all set to return from injuries to bolster the competition's hottest team.

Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir warned the premiership favourite is still capable of vast improvement after setting a club-record winning margin.

"We can get better in personnel, but there's still improvement (in the group). We're not our best version yet," Longmuir said.

"The challenge for us as a playing group is to remain hungry and keep searching for areas we can improve, because everyone below us on the ladder is doing exactly that.

"So I don't sit here and think we're our best version yet.

"Through personnel and the way we're playing, we've got areas of our game that we can get better at, and that's what we've got to strive to do."