Patersons Stadium
Sunday September 9, 1.15pm WST/3.15pm EST
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NORTH Melbourne coach Brad Scott says he makes no apologies for verbally abusing Greater Western Sydney's James McDonald at quarter-time of last Saturday's game at Skoda Stadium.
Scott's outburst was provoked by an incident just after the opening bounce of Saturday's game, when McDonald crashed heavily into the back of young Roo defender Jamie Macmillan.
As North and GWS players made their way to their huddles at quarter-time, Scott could be seen yelling animatedly at McDonald.
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At a press conference on Monday, Scott said he was not worried about whether he received a 'please explain' letter from the AFL over the incident.
"If I do I do, if I don't it doesn't worry me," Scott said at Fox Sports' Melbourne studios.
"The reality is you look to the umpires to control the game and do their job.
"But I'll never apologise for defending my players. I'll go into bat for them 100 per cent of the time.
"I was disappointed in what happened. I was disappointed in the response and my default setting is always to defend my players."
Scott said he had also been disappointed by the umpires' failure to penalise McDonald for his bump, but praised the discipline his players showed in the aftermath.
"They know what's coming up this week. They were disciplined, they focused on the ball, they focused on the contest," Scott said of his players.
"And we didn't feel that was reciprocated on that occasion. So that was disappointing from my end."
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Nick Bowen covers North Melbourne news for AFL.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_Nick
