COACH Paul Roos says the resilience of his team – and its ability to comeback from a 34-point deficit and get to within two points – was a genuine positive from its loss against North Melbourne at the MCG on Sunday.

But Roos said he was also frustrated by his side’s slow start and its latter part of the final term, when North Melbourne kicked four of the last five goals to win by 35 points.

“That [resilience] was a positive and to see the second and third quarters was what we are working towards on a more consistent basis,” he said post-match.

“To do that against a high quality team … if you don’t get your nose in front, a lot of energy is expended to do that [in a comeback], so there is a bit of a natural drop off in that last 15 minutes.”

Overall, Roos said it was a mixed day for the Demons, as there were some steps forward and some backwards.  

“The second and third quarter, we were very, very good,” he said.

“That part was very good, but I’m sure the players were very disappointed in their first quarter.”

Meanwhile, Roos praised veteran Daniel Cross for his consistency, but added that a decision on his future post-2015 was yet to be made.

“What we’ve been really mindful with Crossy is that we’ll certainly engage him in the conversation,” he said.

“Even though he’s only been at the club for a couple of years, we see him as a really valuable player. He’s been exceptional in what he’s delivered at the footy club.

“He’s played more of his time at the Bulldogs, but we want to make sure we engage him in discussion and we’ll probably make that decision later in the year.

“We’ve spoken to him about that already, but he certainly continues to play well every week and he’s a really consistent player.”