Andrew Swallow's ability to stand up in the absence of key midfielders Daniel Wells, Nick Dal Santo and Jack Ziebell underlines the North skipper's growing leadership, coach Brad Scott says.

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North lost Dal Santo (hamstring surgery) and Wells (Achilles tendon) before Saturday night's eight-point loss to the Power, while it was forced to substitute Ziebell (bruised lungs) out of the game after he copped a heavy knock midway through the first quarter trying to spoil Ollie Wines. 

Notwithstanding such significant losses, North took the fight up to Port Adelaide and could easily have won after hitting the front at the 21-minute mark of the final term.

That the Roos were able to remain in the contest until the dying minutes was largely due to Swallow's work in the midfield.

Although North was smashed in the centre clearances (11-21) and beaten in overall clearances (40-44), Swallow led the Roos' resistance, racking up an equal game-high 30 possessions, an equal team-high nine clearances and a game-high 11 tackles. 

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It was a performance that earned Scott's praise after the game.

"He's growing all the time in his leadership role and getting better," the Roos coach said. 

"He's obviously a really important player for us but I thought his leadership tonight was really good." 

Swallow told AFL.com.au after the game that he wasn't taking any solace in his own performance, nor in North's ability to push a top-four contender like Port without Wells, Dal Santo and Ziebell.

"We've still got some good depth in [the midfield]," Swallow said.

"It's nice to know that eventually we'll get those guys back but I think the best teams are able to cover (key player losses) and still get the job done, so it's still disappointing."

Swallow could not fault his team's effort against Port but said some defensive lapses had proved costly. 

"We had a patch just before half-time, the last three or four minutes, when we gave up three goals which probably really hurt us in the end," he said.

"We got smashed out of the centre bounces too, so that's another area where we'll have to look to shut down.

"But probably the most disappointing thing was we let through a lot of easy goals in certain phases of the game.

"Port are a quality side and we knew that they were going to come out and really give us a good effort.

"But our effort was there too, so when you put in that much and you give yourselves a chance it's disappointing not to come away with the win."