A DEFLATED Rhyce Shaw was left with few answers after North Melbourne's mauling at the hands of Fremantle on Saturday. 

Shaw pointed to the Roos' ability to get games into young players as the only positive on a dark day where they conceded their highest score (99) of 2020. 

A total of 12 Roos managed just one tackle or less in their 13th loss from their past 14 matches. 

KANGAROOS v DOCKERS Full match coverage and stats

"(It was a) really disappointing performance… it doesn't read well," Shaw said post-match. 

"It's not good enough. We need to be more consistent. The AFL's an elite competition and at the moment we're not up to standard.

"Fremantle did a great job. They were working really hard and getting across the ground really well and we just couldn't match them in that area, it's plain and simple. 

"We were -28 in contested ball, -5 loose balls, it's hard to read that kind of stuff and that's where the game was won and lost. 

"If we keep looking at that, we can sit here all day and go through the negatives. 

"But if we want to look a bit further ahead and get the positives out of the game, which there weren't many, the fact that our kids get another game under their belt (is one positive) and that's a good experience." 

Dockers coach Justin Longmuir was stoked with his side's execution as they tallied 46 more marks and controlled possession all over the ground. 

He added that the performance of his three tall forwards Jesse Hogan (four goals), Matt Taberner (three) and Rory Lobb (one) provided confidence the three-pronged set-up could be maintained into the future. 

"As far as our offense goes and our forward 50 connection goes, I thought our contest work and pressure was really strong all day, so a lot of things went right," Longmuir said. 

"Our forward line is starting to work really selflessly together and it's about us kicking a score maybe rather than individuals kicking a score.

"I think we saw that today and they all ended up getting a lick of the ice cream which was nice.

"It's made even sweeter by the fact it was our fourth game in 15 days. We got up early this morning, got on a plane for two hours (from Cairns). On the back of the obstacles that were thrown at us, it was a really mature performance."

Longmuir said defender Brennan Cox should be right to face the Western Bulldogs next week after copping a knock to his shoulder during the third quarter before playing out the match.