The sordid loss of Kangaroos over Essendon has triggered issues about the performance of veteran players in the team.

Earlier, the target was towards North Melbourne's young midfield, but statistics suggest it was the veterans who were mainly responsible for this loss.

While the team seemed quite ready for the match, it was the performance of their two oldest players that raised increased concern. The 35-year-old veteran Brent Harvey was only restricted to 21 disposals and a goal.

However, Harvey's performance got better but the 31-year-old Drew Petrie gave a negligible performance, having just three disposals and no goals.

The statistical data clearly indicated the weak performance of Harvey and Petrie.

Brent Harvey, who averages 20 disposals and 1.6 goals a game since 2010, has fallen down to 20.6 disposals and a goal upon losing the match.

Similarly, Drew Petrie, having an average of 14.9 disposals and 2.9 goals, dropped down to a mere 11.9 disposals and 1.6 goals.

Acting captain Petrie clarified on Monday that the last years disappointing season cannot be an excuse for the horrible performance on Friday.

He said, "Expectation and pressure is a good thing because if you want to become a really good side and a consistent finals side then you're going to have the spotlight on you a lot of the time."

"It's a great time for the team to try and learn to deal with that."

"At the moment, not having had that expectation for a lot of years, maybe it's something different for the group. But I'm sure our guys can handle it."

Petrie further mentioned the side was completely bemused with the solid performance by Essendon.

Petrie said, "It's as though we were a bit stunned throughout the game."

"We didn't win the contested ball, which was where it started."

"When you can't win the footy, you've got to be able to get it back off the opposition and we couldn't do that either."

"I've seen him a lot more savage."

"He was pretty disappointed and rightly so, but certainly constructive in the way we went through our review."

"It wasn't just yelling and screaming at blokes or abusing us - it was constructive and educational."

"We'll go and train what we need to fix up and hopefully put it into place on Sunday against the Bulldogs."