NORTH Melbourne coach Brad Scott admits Andrew Swallow will leave a massive hole in the Kangaroos midfield after the skipper yesterday ruptured his Achilles tendon.

Swallow had gathered the ball in space early in the third quarter against Melbourne at Etihad Stadium when he collapsed with no one around him.

The durable onballer, who remarkably has not missed a game since the start of 2009, now faces 12 months on the sidelines.

"It's really disappointing for everyone associated, for our club and footy fans in general,'' Scott said last night.

"It's now going to test what we've been trying to build over the last three to four years in the midfield and some midfield leadership and coverage.''

Merciless Roos belt Demons

Swallow was taken to hospital for scans during the last quarter, but North Melbourne medicos are certain he has suffered a full rupture.

Best of luck to my old teammate Andrew Swallow. Hope its a speedy recovery mate. #fingerscrossed — Mitch Clark (@MitchClark11) July 27, 2013

"It's very rare that the medical staff are so certain about an injury,'' Scott said.

"Even when they're 90 per cent sure they wait to get confirmation, but they're confident it's a ruptured Achilles tendonntsG so you're looking at anything around the 12-month mark for that injury.

"He rarely misses ... he's very resilient and in the last month or so he's played through some things that most others would have missed with. It takes an injury like this to keep him out unfortunately.

"His off-field work as a young captain has been fantastic this year in some pretty challenging times. He's developed a lot.nte

"Obviously he doesn't fall over like that in space by himself too often. It's just unfortunate. If it's a fully ruptured Achilles tendon there's not too many options.''

Swallow's injury was the main talking point after a game in which Melbourne's embarrassing season lurched to new lows.

After leading by 25 points at half-time, North Melbourne kicked 16.9 to the Demons' 1.2 in the second half to record a thumping 122-point win.

"The second half was really good. We're going to come up against some really good teams in the run home and we've got to keep building on the style we want to play,'' Scott said.

Melbourne's final score of 4.4 (28) was a season-low from only 21 inside 50s in perfect conditions.

Interim coach Neil Craig said his side "came to play, but not perform''.

Shattering news about Swallow! Hope scans come back clear — Tom Rockliff (@rockwiz38) July 27, 2013

"To say we got what we deserved is a bit strong, but we've been pretty good in the last few weeks in terms of our competitive nature ... but today we weren't anywhere near it,'' Craig said.

"It was a bad day for our club, it was a big step backwards.

"We weren't able to dig in and show the resilience required.

"While it's a really bitter pill to swallow for our playing group, we've got a lot of work to do before we become a hardened footy club.''

Melbourne co-captain Jack Grimes said: "To be honest, I thought we were past days like that. I don't have any answers for it at the moment.''

But Craig remained defiant in the face of a seemingly helpless situation. "This is what I feel: I'm up for the fight,'' he said.

"I see this as a great challenge to do what we're doing at the moment. Improvement is never, ever a straight line.These things will happen, but I don't like it and it's important you respond really quickly to it."