DESPITE an 18 point defeat at the hands of Carlton, with its star-studded midfield, North Melbourne coach Brad Scott was happy to heap praise on his own emerging midfield, saying his players had improved considerably during the season.

After the game, Scott said it had been ''terrific'' to watch Andrew Swallow, Jack Ziebell, Daniel Wells, Ryan Bastinac and Ben Cunnington compete on a level footing with dual Brownlow medal winner Chris Judd, Bryce Gibbs and Marc Murphy.

For those out in the middle, the battle had been ferocious.  Swallow, the leading disposal winner for either side on the night, admitted the match had been one of the toughest for the season.

''Physically, I am probably the most spent that I have been after a game this year. It just didn't seem to be my night, people just seemed to be running in and whacking me, you just have to keep getting up and trying to give your side as much as possible,'' he said.

Despite the heavy knocks, Swallow was brilliant for the Kangaroos. He had 33 possessions, winning 15 contested possessions in the heavy traffic.

The 24-year-old also had nine tackles and nine clearances, making him North Melbourne's most influential player, as the Kangaroos battled with perhaps the most elite midfield in the competition.

In terms of sheer numbers, the Roos were ahead 37-25 in clearances, with Todd Goldstein again in good form, giving the Kangaroos a 40-37 lead in hitouts.

But, the inside 50s told a different story, with Carlton winning that critical category 55-41.

Scott said the turnovers had been critical in North's defeat and Swallow was quick to put his hand up after the match.

''I probably turned the footy over a little bit. We just couldn't work around their spare man. They just kept putting one down there, in the way of Drew Petrie and we just kept kicking it to him," he said.

''We have to work out a way, that when [opponents] do drop numbers [back] we just don't go to Drew but we go to someone else.''

Despite winning the clearance battle, Swallow said the team had been unable to capitalise on its own good work.

''Especially in the last quarter, when they won their clearances, they were able to get clean clearances and really run the ball out. It would have been nice to be able to do that, but we just have to go back and look at it," he said.

''It was tough out there. I think we just ran out of legs and they lifted in that last quarter. I think we tried to be too cute and couldn't move the ball forward."

Immediately prior to the last break, Swallow had kicked a critical goal. Camped underneath a high ball, he marked close to the North goal line but in doing so, was driven into the ground by Carlton defender Bret Thornton.

It was the third heavy hit for the night from Swallow. The heaviest had come earlier in the quarter, but it was friendly fire, when an errant knee from Ziebell had collected Swallow in the forehead, leaving him slightly dazed and with a large bump on his head.

Still, Swallow said it was important to regain focus for the final, critical quarter.

''The game was there for us to win it. We started off all right, but we cost ourselves with the turnovers, where they would go up the other end. Their small forwards, once you give them a bit of space, that is all they need and it became pretty tough for a backmen down there,'' he said.

The loss was a blow to the Roos' hopes of making to the finals. Currently sitting 10th on the ladder and a game out of the top eight, North Melbourne faces certain finalists Hawthorn next week, and then two other teams in the mix, St Kilda and Fremantle.

''It doesn't end it for us, but we have made it tough for ourselves," Swallow said.

"We still have a couple of more weeks, with Hawthorn and then after the bye Fremantle, we need to win one or preferably two of those to give ourselves a shot.''