Alastair Clarkson has blamed the Kangaroos' defensive woes on personnel changes but concedes they're in for further pain against Gold Coast if they don't win the midfield battle.
North Melbourne were steam-rolled by Brisbane in the AFL Gather Round, suffering a 75-point loss as Brownlow Medallist Lachie Neale led the Lions' charge with 37 disposals and 13 clearances.
Defenders Ben McKay and Griffin Logue played together for the first time in an unsettled Kangaroos back-line.
"We've had a little bit of misfortune; (Aidan) Corr had a really interrupted preseason as did Griff Logue and then he missed a game through suspension, and McKay had his first game back," coach Clarkson said.
"We just haven't had that group together and you need continuity and stability through the back part of your ground and we saw that in pretty stark measures on the weekend.
"And we didn't help our defence because we turned the footy over ... there's a combination of two things and we need to fix both this week."
North co-captain Jy Simpkin underwent hand surgery after the match and Clarkson said there was no timeline yet for the return of the influential midfielder.
But the coach ruled out giving an AFL debut to highly-rated draft pick George Wardlaw, who has battled hamstring issues.
"Probably not this week because we we didn't even play him on the weekend against Sydney in the reserves," Clarkson said.
"It's all part of his program to give him a rest - he had a really strong block of training and then we wanted to play for three or four games, give him a break and then build again.
"He's a big part of our future but that's why we've been really patient as well - we want to give him the best chance to have success when he comes into the side."
The four-time flag-winning coach said forward Paul Curtis had put his hand up for selection through his VFL showing.
"We know the quality of player that he is and given he's gone back and played so well, he'll be in the mix this week."
Facing the 16th-placed Suns on the Gold Coast on Sunday afternoon, Clarkson said regardless of selection his team needed to win the midfield battle.
"We know that the middle of the ground is a really important part of the game and that's Gold Coast's real strength.
"The best on ground (against the Lions) was Lachie Neale so we didn't win that midfield battle and if you give any opposition supply, particularly when we weren't quite in sync with our defensive stability structures behind the ball, you're going to pay the price.
"We'll pay the price against Gold Coast too if we don't have a really, really strong contest around the middle of the ground."
