NORTH Melbourne still has work to do to get Jarrad Waite fitting into its style of play, Roos coach Brad Scott says.
Six days after he starred with an equal career-high seven goals against the Brisbane Lions, Waite was held scoreless in the Roos' eight-point loss to the Power on Saturday night.
It was the second time in his three games with his new club that the former Blue has been held scoreless, with Waite failing to trouble the scorers in North's 77-point loss to Adelaide in round one.
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Scott said after Saturday night's game that he remained confident Waite could be an important member of the Roos' attack but acknowledged he had work to do.
"(Jack) Hombsch did a good job on him, defended him really well," Scott said.
"I think we've still got some work to do with Jarrad in terms of him fitting into the way we want to play and it's not perfect right at the moment.
"He got on the end of it last week but I've still got real confidence that he'll be a really good player for us."
Five talking points: North Melbourne v Port Adelaide
North played fellow talls Ben Brown (three goals) and Drew Petrie (two) alongside Waite on Saturday night in a continuation of the three-pronged forward line the club has employed since the second half of 2012.
Scott said the Roos still had faith in their tall forward structure but suggested its personnel might change this season, with players such as Aaron Black and Majak Daw biding their time in the VFL.
"We've got a pretty clear philosophy on it and I think that we've got a forward line that functions better with three talls," Scott said.
"But Aaron Black will play an important role for us in 2015 – I'm sure of that – so there are a lot of guys coming through who can give us that option."
Click here to watch Brad Scott's full post-match media conference
North fought back from 15 points down early in the final quarter, kicking four of the next five goals – three of them to Lindsay Thomas – to hit the front by four points at the 21-minute mark of the final term.
It was brave effort given star midfielders Nick Dal Santo (hamstring) and Daniel Wells (Achilles tendon) had been ruled out before the match and vice-captain Jack Ziebell (bruised lungs) was substituted from the game in the first quarter.
But Scott said what could have been a "watershed" win for the club had been ruined by basic defensive lapses.
"I thought there were some (good) performances from individuals and the team performance – the fundamentals and the core capacity to win the ball, to compete, to defend – largely was OK," Scott said.
"But there were some defensive mechanisms which were really, really poor at crucial times, so I think that's really disappointing because if we defended better I would have been sitting here saying it was a bit of a watershed moment for a lot of our guys who really stepped up under pressure.
"But when you lose you don't feel the same way unfortunately."
Asked for examples of these defensive failings, Scott highlighted the free kick Ben Cunnington conceded for holding the ball at the start of the last quarter that led to a Brad Ebert goal and the turnover to Matthew Broadbent 10 minutes later that led to another Port goal.
More generally, the Roos coach criticised his team's inability to prevent stoppage goals and goal-line scores.
"(It's) stuff that shouldn't happen at an AFL club, let alone one aspiring to play finals," Scott said.
