In a quiet, almost disconsolate, Kangaroos' dressingroom at Etihad Stadium late on Friday night, Swallow said it was fair to question whether the Roos were even deserving of top-four billing.

"That's fair enough, because at the moment we haven't showed whether we deserve to be there if we can't win against these teams. We just have to keep putting our head down and working. If we get there, we get there. If not, that's our own fault," Swallow said.

A win on Friday night would have ensured the Roos remained in strong contention for the double chance, but that may now have dissolved.

Asked if the inconsistency was linked to attitude, Swallow said: "We are still scratching our head a bit, working it out. Part of it is, but we will drill down down during the week. We thought we turned it around from the Brisbane game [a four-point loss to the Lions at the Gabba on June 28], but obviously we didn't get it right.

"It's the season we are having at the moment. It's frustrating. It's disappointing, but we have just got to keep rebounding. We are still in an OK position this year. If we can't go out there and put in a good performance every week it's not going to mean too much at the end of the year.

"We have five games to go and hopefully we can set our season up with it."

While the Roos have beaten top four teams, their three most recent defeats have been to the Adelaide Crows, who sit just outside the top eight, the Brisbane Lions, in 17th on the ladder, and the Blues, who were 14th heading into Friday night's clash.

They will train until Wednesday and then have four days off before preparations begin in earnest for a crucial clash against Geelong at Etihad Stadium.

"Going by the way the boys are playing, they will be up for it. We get up for the good teams. We have to make sure that continues, and we have to find out when we play teams around us how we (need to) go to get over the line," Swallow said.

North Melbourne's inconsistency prompted leading expert commentator Garry Lyon to declare the Roos were a team he could not "trust".

Their penchant for handballing has been questioned, particularly across half-back when they look to attack. Their inability to control the ball hurt against the Blues, who swooped on mistakes and had a whopping 110 uncontested marks. Allowing opponents easy marks has been a trait of the Roos' seven defeats.

"We were fumbly. It was probably uncharacteristic of some of the boys. We didn't handle the footy well. We probably coughed it up too many times trying to probably be a bit too cute, when we probably just needed to get it forward and give our forwards a chance, because every time we get in there we looked all right," Swallow said.

The Kangaroos won the inside-50 count 53-46, but their ball use was the worst chairman James Brayshaw said he had seen from his club this season. Roos great Wayne Carey said his former team did not know when to attack and when to defend and accused the group of "getting ahead of themselves" heading into the bye.

Swallow said the Roos needed to be more aggressive when they seek revenge against Geelong, having been beaten by 20 points when the clubs last met in round 10.

"We probably sat back a bit too much tonight, gave them too many uncontested marks. We are such a better side when we are up in a team's face and that, along with turnovers, really hurt us tonight," he said.

"Going into a bye you want to go in there with a bit of momentum and feeling good. We weren't able to do it.

"We haven't been great going into byes the last couple of ones we have had. It's frustrating, because we had our chances."

Coach Brad Scott, who adopted a tougher stance with his players in recent weeks,questioned his team's commitment and said there there had been "a stink amongst our group ... that we were hoping the opposition would lose it".

"Footy games are hard to win, and to win them in the AFL competition you've got to pay the price," Scott said.

"If you're going to win you've got to go out there and win it. You can't hope that the opposition loses it."

Scott said injured midfielder Daniel Wells shouldn't be "too far away" once he began full training.