The Roos' 1-4 start to the season has been partly shaped by a draw that has already pitted them against four of last year's finalists – Collingwood, Geelong, Sydney Swans and Hawthorn.
But North coach Brad Scott is not interested in excuses, only solutions.
After a three-point loss to Hawthorn at the MCG on Sunday, Scott said there were "very specific" reasons the Roos had won just once this year (against the Brisbane Lions) but was not prepared to divulge them publically.
Winning the ball is clearly not one of the Roos' problems.
Against the Hawks, North dominated the clearances (44-25) and contested possessions (149-126).
This was nothing new for the Roos, who currently sit first in the competition in clearances (averaging nine more than their opponents a game) and fifth for contested possessions (+5.6 a game).
It's what the Roos have done once they've got the ball that's been the problem.
Scott said on Sunday his team needed to be more polished with its ball use. It's a message he has preached for some time.
But what areas of North's game are most in need of some Mr Sheen sparkle?
One that stood out against the Hawks was North's delivery to its forwards. North had 63 inside 50s, but found a marking target with just six. Its focal point in attack, Drew Petrie, did not take one mark within 50 metres of goal.
In stark contrast, Hawthorn hit 17 inside 50 targets from just 47 entries.
The Hawks are ranked third in the competition for marks inside 50 this year, averaging 13.6 a game, while the current top four – Essendon (12.6), Port Adelaide (13), Geelong (14) and Hawthorn – are all ranked in the top six in this statistic.
However, the Roos are ranked 16th, having averaged just nine marks inside their forward 50 a game.
Some of the Roos' inside 50s against Hawthorn came from hurried kicks won at stoppages, but Scott highlighted the poor delivery to their forwards in his game review on Monday.
North forward Aaron Black told AFL.com.au on Monday the Roos had bombed the ball deep into their forward line too many times against the Hawks.
"We just seemed to want to get it in there as deep as we could, whereas at times we'd have been better off lowering the eyes and hitting a target 40m out rather than just hoping that we could get a shot at goal from 15m out," Black said.
North has shown it can hit targets this year too, with its disposal efficiency (73.8 per cent) the best in the competition.
The Roos have also had the seventh fewest clangers in the competition, averaging 46.2 a game.
But their decision-making and execution cost them at crucial times against the Hawks.
A good example came when North was one point up in the dying stages of the first quarter and defender Michael Firrito had the ball on the half-back flank. Instead of kicking down the boundary line, Firrito opted to switch play, centring the ball to Black at top of the Hawks' forward 50.
It would prove a costly decision. Not only did the Hawks goal after Luke Breust spoiled Black to set up Isaac Smith, but they added another directly from the next centre bounce through Michael Osborne to take an 11-point lead into quarter time.
With six minutes to go in the second term, Petrie spotted Lindsay Thomas on his own 30m from goal, but put a short pass over his head and gave Hawks defender Brian Lake time to spoil.
Midway through the final quarter, North was streaming into attack when Leigh Adams attempted a chip pass to Taylor Hine inside the Roos' forward 50. Adams' pass fell short, allowing Shaun Burgoyne to get across and pressure Hine into a scrambling kick that the Hawks eventually forced out of bounds.
With five minutes left in the game and the Roos nine points behind, Jack Ziebell had the ball 40m from goal near the boundary line. Rather than centring the ball to the top of the goalsquare, where Petrie and Sam Wright were lurking one out with their opponents, Ziebell tried to snap a goal but hooked it out of bounds on the full.
These are just four examples of the turnovers that hurt North so badly against the Hawks. We could have highlighted plenty of others and do not mean to lay disproportionate blame at the feet of Firrito, Petrie, Adams and Ziebell.
North was also left rueing its inaccuracy in front of goal against the Hawks.
It kicked a wasteful 2.6 in the third quarter, including three behinds from Majak Daw, one of which was from 35m directly in front.
After Jack Gunston goaled at the 18-minute mark of the final term to put the Hawks 11 points up, North was the only team to score for the next 11 minutes.
The problem was only one of the Roos' four scores during that period was a goal. That came at the 26-minute mark when Thomas slotted his fifth goal from 40m.
In fairness, we could pick apart even the best teams' games and find skill and decision-making errors.
North also did so much right against the Hawks, and has done so much right this season.
It doesn't have much to show for that after five rounds but if it keeps winning more than its share of the ball and adds the polish Scott is looking for, the wins should soon start to mount up.
Nick Bowen covers North Melbourne news for AFL.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_Nick ß
