North Melbourne coach Rhyce Shaw says his team was beaten in the contest against the Bulldogs, and ultimately gave themselves little chance to win.

While the Roos had just four less inside 50s, the end result was a 49-point loss.

“The most disappointing part was just around the contest,” Shaw said.

“We pride ourselves on that and we are a really tough, contested team.

“Around the contest was where it was won or lost. We got shown up.”

While the Bulldogs had seven players with 20 or more disposals, North had just one, Jy Simpkin.

It was the opposition’s ability to win the ball and break clear from the stoppage which made the difference, according to Shaw.

“They (the Bulldogs) were really slick … they were really clean and we were just too far away,” he said.

“They got out and made the most of their chances, and their forwards took a lot of marks.”

Shaw admitted North hadn’t been able to replicate the brand that saw it defeat the Giants so impressively just three weeks ago.

“I hate going back to it, because it’s a long time ago, but the GWS game we looked really sound and really strong and it was a good brand of footy,” he said.

“We are probably just off that at the moment and a lot of areas are breaking down because of that.

“We certainly need to look at a few areas after tonight.”

Midfielder Ben Cunnington spent much of the second half on the bench, after copping an early knock to his back.

“He wasn’t give us anything from then on in, so it’s really disappointing,” Shaw said of the injury.

“It (Cunnington’s back) just wasn’t right. He’s had that issue coming in and it just didn’t get any better.

“He was in doubt all week, as we stated earlier in the week. He got up, we were confident and I made the decision to play him.

“It possibly was the wrong call. But, we were really confident to be honest, on all the evidence we were given.

“We were happy to play him and going in I was really confident with the way he was going and he warmed up really well … it just is what it is.”