NORTH Melbourne coach Brad Scott says the workrate of Adelaide’s midfield, not the six day break, caused his side to crash to its fourth defeat in five starts at Adelaide Oval on Thursday night. 

The Roos had six days to recover from a bruising encounter with Hawthorn, compared to Adelaide’s 12 day rest.

The Crows eventually ran out 33 point winners, but only broke the match open in the final term.

North were a step behind the Crows in the opening quarter and were comprehensively out-muscled on the night.

Five talking points: Adelaide v North Melbourne 

But Scott said credit needed to go to Rory Sloane, Scott Thompson and Adelaide’s midfield for its pressure and work rate.

“We were really disappointed with the start, I thought we didn’t play the conditions well at all,’’ Scott said.

“It was a really good response in the second (quarter). Everything we stand for looked really good at half-time.

“The Crows lifted in the field, I thought led by Rory Sloane and Scott Thompson. They really turned the contested ball numbers around which were in our favour pretty strongly at half-time…

“We’ve had consecutive six day breaks but we think that six days is enough time to recover…

“Probably the bigger challenge is what sort of break the opposition has had as well…

“I don’t think it had an influence on the game.”

How the fans saw it: Crows v Kangaroos

The Roos had 70 fewer disposals in the second half and eventually their defence gave way under a deluge of Adelaide pressure.

Scott conceded there was a drop-off in North’s intensity, and said the bye had come at a good time for his side as it looked to rest its list and hoped to regain stars like Daniel Wells and Jarrad Waite.

“There’s no doubt that the bye’s come at a good time for us,’’ Scott said.

“It’ll give us an opportunity to reset and physically get ourselves back into pretty good condition…

“We’ve certainly had some challenges both with available personnel and losing personnel within games.”

The Roos lost Farren Ray to concussion in the first half against Adelaide, but Scott did not believe it affected the result.

Scott would not be drawn on when Daniel Well (calf) would return to the side.

He said North were still in a healthy position at 10-4 despite losing to four top-six sides in the past five rounds, and believed it gave them a great springboard to launch from after the bye.

WATCH Brad Scott's full media conference

“At the start of the year we thought we would have played around 34 players and we’ve played pretty close to that now…

“The positive is we’ve been able to play 33 or 34 players… we’ve given some guys some opportunities who have taken it.”