NORTH Melbourne's 14-point win over Essendon felt like a loss to coach Brad Scott and is a "wake-up call" for the undefeated ladder-leader ahead of a difficult second half of the season.
North improved to 8-0 with Saturday's win at Etihad Stadium, equalling the club record set in 1978 by Ron Barassi's team.
Scott was buoyed by his team's effort to keep Essendon to 0.4 in the first half – its lowest half-time score since round one, 1915 – but disappointed by a second-half fadeout in which it kicked just two goals to the Bombers' eight.
Scott declined to reveal what his message was to his players after the game, but suggested the second half had revealed they still lacked some killer instinct.
"I think it's a real challenge for us in our progression as a football club that we don't just mentally, even subconsciously, think, 'Well this game's in hand so I don't need to do the things that got us into this position in the first place'," Scott said.
"It's probably a win that felt like a loss. We would love to have run the game out really strongly in the second half, but clearly we didn't do that.
"When you're undefeated you think as a coach there's a wake-up call coming at some point. I think it's fantastic for us that clearly we got that wake-up call in the second half today, but we still put a 'W' in the win-loss column."
Five talking points: Essendon v North Melbourne
Scott said the tall line-up the Roos took into Saturday's game – they played Drew Petrie, Jarrad Waite, Ben Brown and Majak Daw together in their forward line at times – had probably been a factor in the second-half fadeout, as had Mason Wood coming from the ground midway through the third term with concussion.
But the North Melbourne coach said Essendon deserved credit for the way it got on top around the ball in the second half and for its run and flair.
Watch Brad Scott's full post-match press conference
"We didn't bring good enough effort to the table in the second half, but I thought they lifted theirs," Scott said.
Wood was from stretchered from the ground after landing heavily as he hung on to a strong pack mark.
The North forward was taken to hospital before the final siren to be assessed, with Scott unsure of his condition at the time of his post-match press conference.
Mason Wood has left the ground on a stretcher after this hard landing. #AFLDonsNorth https://t.co/lzrNRX5cle
— AFL (@AFL) May 14, 2016
Scott was also unsure whether key defender Lachie Hansen (concussion) would be available for next Saturday night's clash against Carlton, saying North was disappointed that the two-game penalty Williamstown player Cameron Lockwood received for a "crude bump" on Hansen had been determined before the Roos' concussion symptoms had worsened.
"It's dangerous the match review panel making decisions based on the impact to the player. The VFL player got a two-match suspension based on Hansen appeared to be OK, well he's regressed," Scott said.
"They can't go back and look at the decision to give the player two weeks for what was a pretty crude act, so we're really disappointed about that, really disappointed about losing Lachie because he would have played today."
Scott was hopeful Daniel Wells (corked quad) would be fit to take on Carlton but suggested Sam Wright (ankle) had more work to do to prove his fitness.
"He's still a little bit sore even this week. I thought he was close last week but sometimes these ankles can just stagnate and hit a point so we won't rush him back until he's absolutely right," Scott said of Wright.
"If he doesn't do the main session, there's no point playing him."
