NORTH Melbourne coach Brad Scott has rued his side's wasted ball use in its 18-point loss to Carlton at Etihad Stadium on Friday night.

After leading for much of the first half, the Kangaroos went into the final break dead-locked with Carlton before a burst of four consecutive goals by the Blues in just five minutes broke the game open.

The loss was North Melbourne's 10th of the season and dented its aspirations of a final-eight berth. Half a game out of the eight before Friday night, the Kangaroos have matches to come against Hawthorn, Fremantle, St Kilda and Richmond, as well as a bye, and can ill afford another defeat.

Despite winning the clearances 37-25, the Kangaroos lost the inside 50 count 41-55, and coach Brad Scott conceded that inefficient ball use hurt his side's chances of victory.

"We have young guys who are only going to get better composure in big games under pressure through experience," Scott said.

"That is something that you would love to turn around very quickly, but it is going to take time.

"I'm confident we are improving. It's just disappointing that an opportunity that we had tonight went begging. Largely it went begging because we didn't use the ball well enough."

Scott praised the continuing improvement in his own midfield, saying it had been "terrific" watching Andrew Swallow, Jack Ziebell, Daniel Wells, Ben Cunnington and Ryan Bastinac match it with Carlton's highly-rated onballers.  

"We think their midfield is elite, we think it is pretty much as good as it gets in the competition, and I thought we competed really well in there," Scott said

"The clearance area was really good for us. We just let ourselves going forward; we turned the ball over far too much. Against good sides, when you turn the ball over, you get hurt. They certainly did that today.

"When your midfielders work to the fall of the ball but you turn it over, their midfielders get you going the other way. That pretty much, in a nutshell, sums up the game."

Scott said his young side had become fatigued late in the game, something that had happened regularly last year but had not been a regular occurrence this season.

"I thought we competed really well, but it is difficult," he said.

"We have played 16 games in a row now; we have had consecutive six-day breaks. Our midfield competed really well (but) it didn't have the same spark, it didn't have the same run and spread that it has had in the last few weeks.

"It is not an excuse, it is not a reason for the loss, but the nine-day break we have leading into Hawthorn will certainly be an opportunity to rejuvenate."

For North Melbourne to make the finals, it must now win all of its games in the run home, starting with the clash against the Hawks in Launceston.

"We just have to come out and win next week. We know what the assignment is," Scott said.

"We are capable of doing that, we are confident in that, but we have to show it because we haven't proven that to anyone yet. We have the inner confidence, but we have to show that we can do that."