Carey lamented the Roos' lack of scoring and "stagnant" ball movement after their 58-point Good Friday thumping by Essendon.

"They're not an exciting team to watch," Carey told Channel Seven's Talking Footy.

"I reckon the one thing we've got out of them over the last couple of years ... was you still enjoyed going to watch them play. You don't even have that anymore.

"They're becoming an irrelevant club."

His former teammates David King and Corey McKernan were similarly scathing in their assessments and Carey indicated apathy was the enemy.

"I love the fact that people are now getting riled up ... because a lot of people aren't talking about the Kangaroos, it's almost like people don't care," he said.

The loss has renewed pressure on coach Brad Scott, president Ben Buckley and chief executive Carl Dilena ahead of Friday's vital away clash with Port Adelaide.

But Carey has put the onus on the players to take responsibility for their miserable 1-4 start to the season.

"Look no further than the players," he said.

"Don't worry about looking at where the CEO lives or other things on the periphery of this footy club, the players have got to take ownership of how they're performing."

The two-time North Melbourne premiership captain singled out skipper Jack Ziebell for his "poor" six-disposal game and questioned the club's off-season recruitment.

Jared Polec (Port Adelaide), Jasper Pittard (Port Adelaide), Aaron Hall (Gold Coast) and Dom Tyson (Melbourne) were brought to lift the Kangaroos back into the finals after finishing ninth last year.

But Carey argued they aren't "exactly the Dusty Martins of the world" and suggested Polec, the biggest-name recruit of the crop, hadn't been worth his hefty price tag thus far.

"Clearly on how he's going this year, he's (Polec) overpaid," Carey said.

"There's no doubt about that. Now do players sit around and talk about that? Can that cause harm in a club? Yes, it can. Is it (the case) at the Kangaroos? I don't know."

Australian Associated Press