NORTH Melbourne coach Brad Scott says his young team must learn from the way its Sunday conqueror Geelong stands up under pressure.

The Kangaroos surrendered a 41-point lead in the second quarter to lose by four points, with Cats champion Jimmy Bartel kicking the winning goal in the final minute.

Although crediting his players with improving on the round one loss to Collingwood, Scott lamented being "obliterated" in contested possession during Geelong's comeback.

The Cats booted seven goals to three in the third quarter to spark their revival, winning contested possession 46-35 and centre clearances 6-1 for the term.

"It's a tough one, when you lose by that margin after playing pretty good footy for most of the day," Scott said.

"The great players and the great teams stand up when they need to and refuse to be beaten.

"The lesson for our guys is; it's not something you're born with, it's something you learn through your experiences.

"We've got to continue to find players who can do that.

"We're really confident in the group we've got, and I think our performance today re-affirms that confidence.

"But when the heat's on, they (Geelong) have done it repeatedly, and we're yet to prove that we can do it on a consistent basis."

Scott said he had expected a lift from the Cats after half-time and prepared his players for it, but the briefing had made little difference.

"In the first 15 minutes [of the third quarter], they just obliterated us," he said.

"We couldn't get our hands on the ball, which we'd been doing really well in the first half.

"The expected lift in intensity came from them, and we just couldn't match it quickly enough."

But the Kangaroos coach was pleased with the improvement in kicking and decision-making when moving into attack, which had been a focus in the lead-up to the clash after a poor showing against the Magpies.

"We really made Geelong defend," Scott said.

"I don't think they had an intercept mark in the first quarter, which would be the first time that's happened to them for a long time, and Petrie was able to get one-on-one contests.

"So we were able to give our key forwards in particular a bit more of a chance today.

"The decision-making going forward and the execution of that was much improved, but it's still not the best.

"We still got hurt too much going the other way, we've still got work to do."

Winless after two rounds despite playing some exciting football, the Kangaroos face 2012 premier the Sydney Swans next week in yet another challenging assignment.

"The hits just keep on coming, but that's what we want," Scott said.

"We want to keep playing the good teams and keep testing ourselves."