NORTH Melbourne coach Brad Scott admits that stinging criticism from club greats could become a distraction for his team, but says he was proud of his side’s fighting spirit following a 16-point loss to Port Adelaide on Friday night.       

Wayne Carey and David King have slammed the Kangaroos in the media for their disappointing start to the season, with both questioning the team’s brand and famed Shinboner spirit. 

The Roos fell to 1-5 following their loss to Port Adelaide, placing further pressure on Scott’s tenure as North Melbourne coach.

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Scott said both men were entitled to their opinion on the club, acknowledging that criticism and accountability was a good thing. 

"You’re not immune to it and you shouldn’t shy away from it. But you do have to decipher what’s important and focus on what is factual," Scott said. 

"(Coaches) analyse the game to death and we don’t need any reminding of the areas we need to work on.

"But it’s a fact that it can become a distraction. Particularly when a club that prides itself on being really tight and really strong has people nipping around the edges." 

North Melbourne lacked the polish to compete with the Power for large stretches of the match, but almost stole an unlikely victory after kicking the last five goals of the match. 

Scott lauded his side for refusing to give up, even when 40 points down in the final term. 

"We talk about being never beaten as a football club all the time and it stems back to our history … that’s a legacy that’s been left to us and we want to make sure we uphold that as best we can," he said. 

"We were outplayed in parts of the game today but the fight never dissipated. 

"Even in the first 75 minutes, the fight was evident. We were doing a lot of things right, but we just lacked the polish."

Scott flagged pre-match that arresting an alarming capacity to leak scores from centre bounces would be a focus of his team against the Power, after the Roos conceded 130 points from centre bounces across the first five rounds. 

North Melbourne only conceded seven points from the centre bounces, which was a vast improvement that pleased the coach.

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"It was a much-improved effort," Scott said.

"It means you can be competitive in games for longer … you’re not going to win every centre bounce, but you’ve got to defend them better than we have.

"And that was one of the areas that was much better tonight."

Scott also lauded the impressive performance of Nick Larkey, who kicked three goals and looked dangerous up forward with youngsters Cameron Zurhaar and Tarryn Thomas. 

"I think in the second half our ball movement got back to where we want it to look like," he said.   

"There were little glimpses tonight that suggest that the foundation’s okay."