A GOALLESS Travis Cloke, who had his hands on the ball just nine times last night, should not be blamed for Collingwood's 18-point loss to North Melbourne, Magpies coach Mick Malthouse insisted last night.

There were other, greater deficiencies and Malthouse did not refrain from pointing fingers.

"We had two ruckmen (Chris Bryan and Cameron Wood) ruck against a centre half-forward (Drew Petrie) and the centre half-forward's probably best on the ground, second-best on the ground and third-best on the ground … there's not much you can do about it if two ruckmen are there (and) have got an opportunity to get their hands on it," he said.

"Travis got very little support from delivery and got very little support, really, from other forwards … I thought our forwards were quite ordinary. I thought Jack Anthony made the most of opportunities but really, as a young bloke coming through, lacks the knowledge to know how to help taller teammates. And the other forwards quite frankly were really beaten badly."

Later, Malthouse was asked about Heath Shaw's 11-disposal outing.

"Heath (Shaw) needs to have a look at his game," Malthouse said.

"He was beaten on the wing and was beaten on the back flank so we threw him around a little bit."

North Melbourne's Dean Laidley said the pressure applied by his team was "first class". And now, having kept themselves in the hunt for a top-eight finish and knowing they have knocked off some of the competition's leading teams — Hawthorn (round 13), the Western Bulldogs (round 9) and Collingwood (rounds 5 and 16) — the Roos had to ensure they defeated the sides below it.

"We'll hit the track pretty heavy towards the later part of the week because they're starting to open themselves up an opportunity. If they want to play in September, they've got to continue to work hard and that's our goal," Laidley said.