A PROUD Brad Scott says West Coast was simply "too good" for North Melbourne on Saturday night, refusing to blame some contentious umpiring decisions for why the Kangaroos fell short.
As was the case in Friday night's preliminary final between Fremantle and Hawthorn, there were a number of umpiring decisions that irked both supporter bases and caught the attention of commentators.
Click here for full match coverage and stats
There were two particular decisions, one involving Nick Dal Santo and Luke Shuey in the second quarter and another where Ben Jacobs wasn't given a free despite having his legs taken out from under him in the fourth, that went against the Roos.
But Scott said the umpires weren't the reason they fell 25 points short in the end.
WATCH: Brad Scott's full post-match media conference
"It's the rub of the green stuff," Scott said post-match.
"You play an interstate preliminary final. The crowd was fantastic tonight, they generated a superb atmosphere and it makes it really tough for the people that are charged with adjudicating the game.
Six things we learned: West Coast v North Melbourne
"I understand the frustration of supporters and particularly our supporters, and West Coast supporters when it didn't go their way.
"Our game is the hardest game in the world to umpire, sometimes they go your way, sometimes they don't.
"It's frustrating but we never sit back and say, ‘Umpires cost us the game’, because that would be unfair on them and unfair on West Coast and it wouldn't be true."
The Roos locked their doors after the game while Scott addressed them following their missed opportunity to become the first team to contest a Grand Final from eighth position.
WATCH: Top five plays - West Coast v North Melbourne
Scott was calm and composed when he philosophically stated while his team improved its competitiveness this year, the Eagles were simply better.
"When you play in a preliminary final, you've got a great opportunity and we were ruing a missed opportunity," he said.
"West Coast was too good for us on the night.
"When you're playing a prelim the prize is significant. The main message to the players is you never know when it will happen again.
"Boomer (Harvey) early on in his career was playing in these games and thought it would continue but it's been a long break in his career.
"It's a confidence-booster that our best is good enough against the best but we have to get better."
Lindsay Thomas again started in the substitute's vest, which Scott explained was a byproduct of the plantar fascia injury he missed two games late in the season with.
Thomas has been the Roos' sub in all three of their finals since coming back for the elimination final clash against Richmond.
"Lindsay's been really courageous, he's had to play with injections for the second half of the year," he said.
"He hasn't really been able to train or do the work, he's still an important part of our side but a lesser person probably would have said, "I'm not right to go."
"We weren't confident he could play out a full game."
Scott also said the Roos believed veteran midfielder Daniel Wells was over the Achilles injury that ruined his season, and would have played finals had it not been for a recent calf injury.
