NORTH MELBOURNE coach Brad Scott says a lack of experience or size is no excuse for the Sydney Swans overcoming his team in their round four clash at Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The Kangaroos had been right in the clash until midway through the third quarter before the Swans rammed home the final seven goals of the match to win by 40 points.

The lead changed more than a dozen times throughout the entertaining clash as the underdog Kangas had served it up to the more experienced Swans.

But once the Swans found some rhythm in the latter part of the third term, Scott’s men were unable to keep pace - something the first-year coach says is simply unacceptable.

“I thought the guys tried to implement what we talked about, but no, I wasn’t pleased in the slightest,” Scott said after the match.

“Against a side as experienced as Sydney … if you take your foot off the pedal, they’re going to punish you.

“And we got punished, so the players need to learn a lesson and learn it very quickly, that if we can’t sustain a solid performance and implement what we need, we’re going to get beaten.”
    
The 14.16 (100) to 8.12 (60) scoreline probably flattered the Swans in the finish, but Scott says his men have no one to blame but themselves after squandering an impressive first half in which they more than matched Paul Roos’ side in general play.

“I thought we didn’t take our chances in the first half,” Scott said.

“We created enough opportunity to score and we didn’t take those chances, so it’s frustrating to go in pretty much level pegging at half time.

“The implementation in the first half was very good from the players but they couldn’t sustain it in the second half.”

The Swans’ hardened bodies of Brett Kirk, Jude Bolton and Adam Goodes rose to the challenge after half time and to many observers, their sheer size may have been a factor the longer the game wore on.

Scott said he was wary of becoming engaged in “a war of attrition” but didn’t believe it was simply a case of bigger bodies winning the day.

“We’ve got a young midfield but it’s not as if they’re little kids,” he said.

“I mean Jack Ziebell’s 19 but he’s a big kid, he’s a 90-kilogram midfielder who doesn’t get pushed around.

“So we just need to sustain that effort for the whole game.”

The coach said his team had showed it was capable of playing good football in periods but was searching for a four-quarter effort.

He also backed the continued use of big man Hamish McIntosh, Todd Goldstein and David Hale although he is looking forward to regaining Drew Petrie later in the year.

“I don’t think any of those three would be doing cartwheels about their performances today … clearly we’d like to have Petrie back in our forward line and that may change the structure of the side,” he said.

“But I think that can become a real strength for us. When other things don’t go well, it’s easy to pinpoint those things.”