For the second week in a row, the efficiency of North’s opponents proved the key in the final match result.

At quarter time the scoreboard told a 34-point deficit for North Melbourne, but Port Adelaide had only one more entry inside 50 (14-13).

“That’s probably been a trend for us the last few weeks,” Jamie Macmillan told the Sunday Footy Show.

“(For example) last week (against West Coast) we dominated, they had five inside 50’s and kicked 3.2.

“Last night again, the quality of entries they (the Power) had was better than ours.”

Of Port Adelaide’s six goals, five came from set shots and four were from closer than 30 metres out. It’s the type of pattern which more often than not leads to accurate performances.

However the second key was how the Power was winning the ball from the stoppages. An 11-3 clearance edge in the first quarter meant North was deprived of a key component of its play.

Although Port was only able to kick one goal from its 11 first quarter clearances, what it did mean was when North gained possession it was often in its back half.

From there, the Roos had to rely on good ball use to get close to home. Here was where the game was decided.

As Brad Scott mentioned in his post-match media conference, a combination of Port’s pressure and North’s skill execution forced turnovers.

The Power kicked five first quarter goals from North’s turnovers, and it continued as the visitors’ main scoring avenue after the break.

In all Port would finish with 12 of its 16 goals from turnovers. With Macmillan talking about how North’s ball use has fared in recent weeks, the two are linked.

“We’re just not taking the game on as much. With ball in hand we’ve probably just succumbed to kicking the ball down the line a little too much.”

“We seemed to be going in long and wide and even when our forwards were marking it they weren’t in good spots.”

However there were positives, in particular the third quarter. While the scoreboard reward wasn’t there – 2.9 to 3.0 – it showed glimpses of what North can get back to in the near future.

The three tall forwards found the ball, sharing seven of the 11 scoring shots, and the ball movement looked closer to the early season form which led the Roos to the top of the ladder.

Unfortunately it proved too little, too late.

“They were about five goals up at quarter time, or near enough, and it’s always hard to peg that back,” Macmillan said.

“We kept playing but the end result was about five goals and the damage was done.”