A day after North Melbourne coach Brad Scott furiously slammed his team’s loss against Collingwood, it has been revealed he will miss the next four critical weeks for the Kangaroos while he undergoes back surgery.

In a statement released by the the club on Monday, director of football Geoff Walsh said Scott’s surgery had to be done immediately.

Mr Walsh said senior assistant coach Darren Crocker would step in as Scott’s replacement.

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“We have briefed the players this afternoon and we are confident that our experienced group of assistant coaches and development coaches will also step up to support Darren in Brad’s absence,” Walsh said.

“This is something he has been dealing with, and something he hoped he would be able to manage with treatment and medication until the end of the season.

“Unfortunately, the symptoms and pain levels have become such, he now requires back surgery and that will mean a decent recovery period away from the game.”

The statement revealed Scott reluctantly made the decision last week to have an operation and he would be absent from Sunday’s match against West Coast in Hobart, but was also likely to miss critical matches against Sydney, GWS Giants and Gold Coast as he recovered.

In a post-match press conference on Sunday, Scott was red-faced and furious at his Kangaroos second-half capitulation to the Pies labelling it “disgusting” and “appalling”.

They were defeated 7.10.112 to 14.11.95.

“It’s as disgusted as I’ve been,” Scott said spluttering after Sunday’s match.

“I’m shattered for everyone associated with our football club.

“We’ll be doing something about it – don’t worry about that.”

The Kangaroos made it to the preliminary final last season and were expected to continue their improvement in 2015. They are currently in 13th place on the league ladder.

“Everyone gets held accountable,” Scott said.

“There are players who played well in the VFL yesterday and so players will be held accountable to a standard (which) the leaders and the off-field leaders of the football club demand.”

Scott was furious that the Kangaroos seemed powerless to halt the Collingwood charge led by five-goal forward Jamie Elliott.

“It’s as disgusting a performance as I’ve been involved with since I’ve been at North Melbourne,” Scott said.

“Just absolutely appalling, and we’ve got to turn it around very quickly, because at the moment we’re capable of what we were capable of in the first half and really dominating the game and then, for whatever reason, whether it’s mental aptitude or mental strength.

“We use the right words like being tough and ruthless and relentless – but it was anything but in the second half.”

– with AAP