After a blast from the coach following the round 20 loss to Adelaide, Paul Duffield says Fremantle’s defence improved against Richmond but can be better.

Freo conceded 119 to the Crows despite the back six averaging just 76 points per game against for the season, prompting Ross Lyon to express his disappointment at the effort.

Richmond was held to just 72 last Saturday, but Duffield said there was still some work to do.

“There were some good moments and there were some bad moments as well,” he said.

“There was probably an improvement, but in saying that, we’ve still got a little way to go to get back to how we were going a couple of weeks before that.

“We kept Richmond to 72 points. We would have liked to keep them to a little bit less than that but it got the job done on the day.”

Duffield, who was singled out for a poor effort against Adelaide, admitted it stung him and the defensive group to hear Lyon’s displeasure, but he agreed with the coach’s assessment.

“As Ross says, it’s nothing personal, it’s just something we had to improve on,” Duffield said.

“We weren’t very good against Adelaide.”

Duffield said having Luke McPharlin return after missing the Adelaide game gave Freo a boost.

“It’s a big help having Luke back,” he said.

“He’s a fantastic player in great form. It goes a long way to improving the defence straight away.”

Freo’s backline will have to be at its uncompromising best this Sunday against a North Melbourne team ranked No. 2 in the AFL for points scored this season (108.8 points per game).