North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson lamented the Kangaroos' "dreadful" performance after being thrashed by Fremantle on Saturday.

The Dockers broke the game open with a nine-goal blitz in the second quarter and powered away to a 124-point victory at Bunbury's Hands Oval on Saturday.

KANGAROOS v DOCKERS Full match coverage and stats

"Fremantle were good and we were dreadful," Clarkson said.

"Perhaps you have a little bit of shame because we want to come over here and be putting on a better performance than we did today.

"That sat us on the back foot early in terms of contest and we never really recovered from it."

Clarkson conceded the Kangaroos failed to adequately handle the break in routine during their mid-season bye last round.

"How often do we see that, that a team is just so poor coming back from a bye and having a rest?" he said.

"You get out of your routine and you get out of your resilient, tough approach.

"We were just nowhere in that space today."