Once again North Ballarat were competitive throughout periods of its Victorian Football League hit-out with Geelong. But once again, it’s lack of a tall, potent target in attack saw many of its forays forward go unrewarded.

Geelong were too strong across the four quarters for North Ballarat, leaving Eureka Stadium with a 15.10 (100) – 6.15 (51) victory.

The Roosters were inaccurate after quarter-time, kicking 3.15, while Greig was disappointed in the side’s willingness to take the game on when the match was there to be won.

Given North Ballarat’s lack of size and aerial power in its forward 50, quick ball movement is paramount. When that style of play is not implored, a scoreline of 10.6 (66) – 3.5 (23) is the result, which was the case at half-time on Sunday.

“The first half we let ourselves down and didn’t play the way we wanted to,” Greig said.

“It was pretty safe football in the first half.

“We were stop, start and didn’t take the game on.”

It was an improved second half from the Roosters, albeit with the sting well and truly out of the game.

They lost the second half by six points after some stern half-time words. But the frustration remains as to why it takes a half-time reinforcement to play out a gameplan that should be its default setting.

“It’s something I shouldn’t have to write on the board, because it should be ingrained into them through pre-season.”

Greig said while it did not possess the same talent or class as its opposition, it let itself down by not playing to its strengths. If the Roosters are to breakthrough for their first win of the season, it must play to its systems and execute the basics for longer.

“We don’t do the basics well enough, for long enough.

“It’s polish and it’s class - that’s ongoing. We know that we haven’t got the AFL class on our list, but we’ve just got to get better at it.”

Adding to the Roosters woes is a lengthy causality list, that adds to an already crowded rehab room. Greater Western Victoria Rebel Lloyd Meek impressed in the ruck before a severe cork cut his VFL debut short. Brenton Payne suffered a quad injury, Nick Rippon will have x-rays on his thumb on Monday while Ben Simpson sustained a minor hamstring injury.

The Roosters will be hoping they can welcome back a number of players for Essendon in two weeks time after the bye.