North Melbourne coach David Noble has labelled Saturday's 108-point AFL rout at the hands of Brisbane at the Gabba as unacceptable and will seek answers from his players.
The Kangaroos were simply belted by the rampant Lions, who kicked nine fourth-quarter goals on their way to a 23.18 (156) to 7.6 (48) victory.
Combined with the club's VFL team copping a similar hiding by the Lions' reserves earlier on Saturday, Noble said the day couldn't have gone much worse for North.
"Our club's been beaten by 200 points ... the state league game was exactly the same," Noble said.
"We've got to go back and have a bloody good look at ourselves. That's the bottom line.
"Coaches, players alike, staff.
"It's not acceptable."
The belting brought back worrying memories of the start of last season when Noble, in his rookie campaign as an AFL coach, began melding a youthful playing group.
Having won just once in the first half of 2021, the Kangaroos picked up three wins and a draw in the back half of the year to suggest Noble's methods were starting to bear fruit.
But the 54-year-old expects a tough week on the training track to remind players of those methods heading into an equally daunting trip to the SCG to face Sydney next Saturday.
"We know how to work our way out of this, we've done it before," he said.
"We didn't think we'd have to go there again but we know what we need to do.
"We've got to increase our rate at training, we've got to increase our accountability - particularly in the game from a transitional perspective - and keep it really simple.
"Defenders, play on your man; mids, be accountable; and forwards, you've got to try and play in front.
"That's what we'll go back to."
