“Theyre determined to grow as a group. But they know theres a fair bit to do, theyve got to roll their sleeves up. Weve got to roll our sleeves.
“Were in it together as a group, coaches and players. Thats what make strong footy clubs. Those that bind together.
“You cant do this on your own.”
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Bolton said the loss of the skipper was significant, but wouldnt use it as an excuse.
“One player cant be the defining factor in a win or a loss,” he said.
”Well make no excuses around that. Weve got quite a few players that are new to our system and our defensive system. We need to keep educating. They need to work really hard in that space because theyre new to the system and weve got a lot of work to do there.”
Bolton said the performance was “not what we stand for”.
“We need far, far more contributors, particularly around the contested ball and the ground ball gets. They won it in and around the source, and that has quite a few ripples,” he said.
“You send numbers in to support that. Then their key forward [Ben Brown], who finished with five goals] gets on top so you send a number to protect that, so it was a little bit of robbing Peter to pay Paul with the numbers game because clearly to their credit they won the contested possession and the ground ball get stat significantly.”
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Carlton face West Coast at the MCG next Saturday. Jacob Weitering played out the game with a cork while Matthew Kreuzer was rested late in the match, but both are expected to be available to take on the Eagles.
North coach Brad Scott lauded Brown, who has kicked 15 goals already this season.
“Browny is becoming a pretty complete player," Scott said."He's now finding multiple ways to find the ball and be influential in all conditions."
Scott said it was an all-round performance from his side.
"I think most facets [worked well]."
The Roos have moved to 2-2 and face Hawthorn at Etihad Stadium next Sunday.
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Daniel is an Age sports reporter.
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