GIANTS will continue to investigate lapses in concentration after a 30-minute burst saw its poor run of form extend to three weeks.
The GIANTS allowed North Melbourne to kick seven goals to one in the third term at Blundstone Arena – albeit with the aid of a breeze – leaving coach Leon Cameron searching for answers in the 43-point loss.
Leading at half-time, the injury-plagued GIANTS conceded 17 clearances to eight in the space of a quarter.
It leaves them outside the top eight at 4-1-4 after losses to Geelong and West Coast in recent weeks.
"Just in the manner that they pushed us aside in the third quarter after working extremely hard in the first half around the ball (was most disappointing)," Cameron said post-game.
"Within 20 minutes of the half-time
"We've got to learn from that 30-minute period because if you accept that too much, then you're not going to make ground, regardless of whether you get players back or not."
The senior midfield nucleus of Dylan Shiel (six disposals), Callan Ward (two), Stephen Coniglio (three), Ryan Griffen (three) and Lachie Whitfield (two) were left to watch the game slip away in the third term.
"No doubt you call on your leaders whenever you're struggling and clearly our last three weeks we're struggling to play a brand of footy that's accepted," Cameron said.
"Wardy, Steve Coniglio and our older players in Griffen and Shaw, they've got to be able to set the way for (Isaac) Cumming, (Jacob) Hopper, (Harry) Perryman and (Tim) Taranto and these sort of guys.
"It's not happening enough, it's only happening in patches and we've got to continue to explore to get to the bottom of it."
Cameron said he would speak to another leader in Jeremy Cameron after a 20-second brain fade in the second term handed the momentum back to the Roos on a platter.
Back-to-back off-the-ball bumps from the forward on Jamie Macmillan had the Giants go from a potential 15-point lead to a Mason Wood goal at the opposite end.
"We'll talk about it, absolutely," Cameron said.
"There's not just Jeremy on his own. Every player in this league goes through frustration.
"There's frustration in every footy club, we had some of those frustrating moments today and we've got to deal with it. We'll address it and we'll continue to address it until we get a better outcome."
"Our guys have got to make sure that our discipline levels are to AFL standard because you can't give away easy balls like that. It's hard enough to win it, don't give it away."
Cameron responded to Essendon great Matthew Lloyd's assessment of the GIANTS being in "free fall" in the Saturday morning press.
"I haven't read the article but everyone's entitled to their opinion," he said.
"The last three weeks, I think freefall's probably a bit of a harsher word than you probably would use. Are we out of form? Absolutely. Can we bounce from this? Yeah, I'm really confident we can."
Jeremy Cameron's usual forward partner Jon Patton kicked three goals in the NEAFL, his coach admitting Patton's forward craft may have dropped off as he focused on his ruck work.
Josh Kelly (groin), Phil Davis (concussion), Brett Deledio (hamstring) will be in the frame to return next week against Essendon, Sam Reid set to miss after finishing the game icing his hamstring.
