The Tackle: North Melbourne's game plan desperately needs another tweak A dejected Brent Harvey after North Melbourne's shock loss to Gold Coast on Saturday. ANGER has replaced disbelief. Following yet another loss after dominating for a period of the game, questions are being asked of North Melbourne players and coach Brad Scott. The Kangaroos are 4-7 at their break. Not so long ago there was a sense of pride at being named the best team outside the eight, but now they are "so-what" words. It's so what because the Kangaroos don't defend. And if you don't defend in this competition, you're not a good side. Scott tweaked his game style this year. Last year it was kamikaze footy and it was breathtaking. This year it would appear they are trying to retain the footy a lot more, criss-crossing half-back and then moving it forward. It desperately needs another tweak. Chat live from 11.30am AEST They have plenty of positives, but they are too easily scored against. One statistic is damning. The worst team at allowing scores from their defensive 50m is Greater Western Sydney at 19 per cent. The next at 14.1 per cent is Melbourne and North Melbourne. The best is Fremantle at 6.8 per cent, followed by Sydney and then Essendon. The numbers don't lie. In their four closest losses, the Kangas allowed 29 or more shots at goal. It is not September footy. Last year North Melbourne won 14 games. This year it has won four with 11 to play. The Roos' next outing is at Fremantle. A loss and they aren't playing finals -- full stop. Respectfully, I can't agree with Scott about it not being a mental problem. The Kangaroos are mentally fragile. Adelaide knew it. The Suns said it. Mostly everyone else believes it. They lack leadership, and never before could it absolutely be said, but there is a strong argument Jack Ziebell is the club's most influential player. He was missed on the weekend because of suspension, and what his team missed was his competitiveness, a willingness to be at the contest, fighting, scrounging and bullocking to deny the opposition. On Saturday night, the Kangas gave up the fight. It got too hard. It was wet and the skills required for victory were not slick skills, rather strong minds. The Kangaroos wanted to play easy footy, wanted to stand off from the contest. By comparison, the Suns put their head over the ball. Critics of Guy McKenna's team have to eat their words. Supporters of Scott and his Kangas have to reassess their thinking. Kangaroos coach Brad Scott desperately needs to make tweaks to his team's game plan. Scott said his players did not handle the conditions, but at five goals to zip, they seemed to be handling the conditions superbly. What followed was that the Suns changed their attitude and ball movement, and the Kangas stalled. After quarter-time, the Suns won the contested football by 32, inside-50s were 56-22, clearances 46-29 and centre clearances 12-3. Scott and Co made a mistake with Trent McKenzie. The booming left-footer was able to control half-back. He had 25 touches and nine marks and gained 689m, 148m more than the next best. Even Drew Petrie lamented after the match how McKenzie could have been on his own for so much of the time. The blame is collective, which includes the coach. He has to continue to demand a defensive attitude from his players and they simply have to respond. It's called leadership. As Paul Roos says, leadership is captains and leaders, on the day, directing other players. It's not happening at the Kangaroos. The skipper, Andrew Swallow, is either in a slump or playing injured. He had 10 touches on Saturday night, and 12 tackles, and probably since Round 7 has been below normal output. He has credits in the bank. The problem is North has basically run out of its.