North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson has defended the club's gamble on trading away a first-round draft pick as the Kangaroos sit in danger of finishing bottom-two for a sixth-straight season.
With four games remaining, North (4-1-14) are 17th after suffering the biggest loss by any team this season - a 101-point demolition by Geelong on Saturday night.
The Cats led by 106 points at three-quarter-time, but North were at least able to not let the margin veer out into record-breaking territory in the final term.
Despite being destined for another lowly finish, the Kangaroos won't get the rewards of a top draft pick like normal.
On draft night last year, the Kangaroos completed a swap with Richmond to take the final pick of the first round, using it to select versatile tall Matt Whitlock to bolster their key position stocks.
In doing so, North gave Richmond access to their first-round draft selection this year, which is currently pick two behind only West Coast.
"We rated young Whitlock really, really highly, and so our list management team made a made a call on that last year," Clarkson said when asked if it was regrettable to not have a high draft pick this year.
"It's just horses for courses. There's not a club in the competition that get it right all the time.
"Everyone would applaud our list management team for getting (star forward) Nick Larkey ... he's pick (73), so where did he come from?
"There's always hits and misses. But that's the game that you play. You roll the dice, and we'll see where that rolls with us."
Since four-time Hawthorn premiership coach Clarkson took over at Arden St, North have won just 10 games, losing 44 and drawing one.
It was always going to be a slow rise, but fans are becoming restless.
Clarkson has urged the North faithful to stay the course as they rebuild their list.
"We'll continue to give exposure to to our players," he said.
"What we don't want to get caught up in is the hysteria around results.
"We know where we are as a footy club and right at the minute, our depth has been tested, particularly in our back end, where a lot of our more senior guys are out injured."
North should regain Larkey (knee) for next week's winnable game against St Kilda.
