MELBOURNE July 30 AAP - North Melbourne coach Brad Scott says the Kangaroos can still play in the AFL finals series in 2011 despite their heartbreaking loss to Carlton.

Tenth-placed North Melbourne took the fight right up to the Blues to be on level pegging at three-quarter time.

But the Blues strengthened their hold on a top-four spot with a five-goal final term to win 11.14 (80) to 9.8 (62) in front of 41,332 fans at Etihad Stadium in their round-19 clash on Friday night.

North have an 8-10 win-loss record and are facing the daunting task of winning their final four home-and-away matches to stay in the finals race.

"We know what the assignment is," Scott said.

"We've got Hawthorn (then the bye in round 21), Fremantle, St Kilda and Richmond so we've just got to win those games.

"We're capable of doing that. We're confident in that but we've got to show it because we haven't proven that to anyone yet.

"We've got the inner confidence but we've got to show that we can do that."

Scott blamed poor ball use for his side's loss to the Blues.

"We turned the ball over far too much. Against good sides when you turn the ball over, you get hurt on the turnover," Scott said.

"We've been trying to address it for the last two years. It's just a work in progress.

"We've got young guys who are only going to get better at composure in big games under pressure through experience.

"We would love to turn it around really quickly but it takes time. But I'm confident we're improving.

"It's just disappointing an opportunity we had to win went begging and largely it went begging because we didn't use the ball well enough."

Young midfielders Andrew Swallow (33 possessions) and Jack Ziebell (22) were in good form along with ruckman Todd Goldstein, while Scott Thompson played a fine defensive role on zippy small forward Eddie Betts, who kicked only one goal.

"Our young midfield has taken giant steps forward but we've still got some way to go," Scott said.

"With maturity and experience comes resilience.

"Last year (Ziebell) couldn't have run out a game like that, based on a number of factors like injury and lack of preparation.

"Now he's competing with the best. We fell short but we know we're improving."

Scott said fatigue was a factor but not an excuse.

"A lot of players were just out on their feet in the last quarter," he said.

"The 16 games in a row, consecutive six-day breaks didn't help our cause.

"But the nine-day break we have leading in to the Hawthorn game will certainly be an opportunity to rejuvenate."

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