THE DOOR back into the senior team could be swung open for former captain Andrew Swallow after North Melbourne was "obliterated around the ball" against Sydney on Sunday.
Disappointed Kangaroos coach Brad Scott said his team's performance in their 42-point loss to the Swans at Etihad Stadium did not reflect how the season had panned out.
The Roos were smashed in contested ball (169-134) and allowed the Swans to spread away from traffic with little impediment, as they hauled in 103 uncontested marks to North's 47.
"We got obliterated around the ball and then we allowed Sydney to control it (the football)," Scott said in his post-game press confrerence.
"There were a few patches of the game where we played it the way we wanted it to be played and the rest, Sydney, to their credit, set it up well – won the ball in the contest and dictated terms.
"It could've been a lot worse to be honest."
Five talking points: North Melbourne v Sydney
Swallow, dropped before round six, had 30 disposals in VFL affiliate Werribee's 11-point win over Collingwood in Wangaratta on Saturday.
The presence of an experienced ball winner was clearly lacking against the Swans.
"He played well in the VFL," Scott said when assessing Swallow's form-line.
"We were under no illusions that he'd bounce back and improve on the areas that we'd asked him to focus on.
"He'll be in the mix."
Scott said Sydney's return to form did not surprise him in the slightest.
"We knew what was coming. Sydney's form-line doesn't suggest, or we didn't fall for the fact that they were going to be off," Scott said.
"We knew they were going to be on. Like us, they're fighting for their season and they're a proud group of hard, tough inside midfielders and they got the better of our guys today.
"We pride ourselves on the ability to win the ball on the inside and our guys, particularly in the first half, just got really badly beaten in there.
"It was a result that was unacceptable. It was inconsistent and so different to what we've produced so far this year, even in losses."
North will assess top draftee Jy Simpkin's right shoulder during the week after he injured it in a first-quarter collision.
Simpkin tried to return to the field in the second term, but was clearly laboured and the Kangaroos made the decision to rule him out of the game.
WATCH: Brad Scott's full post-match press conference
"It certainly looks like an AC joint (injury)," Scott said.
"The doctors were keen to explore injecting it (with a painkiller) to get him back on but we weren't comfortable doing that with a young player.
"We didn't give the doctors too many opportunities to get him back on the field (so) we just called it pretty early because we're certainly not going to put him at risk at such a young age."
Although North had few winners on the day, Scott had particular praise for Robbie Tarrant for the job he did in restricting Swans superstar Lance Franklin to just one goal.
"He was super," Scott said.
"When I said it could've been a lot worse, Robbie Tarrant kept it semi-respectable."
"It was a dominant performance, I thought."
