NORTH Melbourne is hopeful its contingent of injured players will be fit for Friday night’s clash with Hawthorn at Etihad Stadium.
The ladder-leading Roos had a handful of injury concerns to come out of their loss to Geelong on the weekend.
Captain Andrew Swallow was concussed in the first quarter, while Ben Cunnington (quad), Nick Dal Santo (groin), Shaun Atley (ankle) and Robin Nahas (finger) all had injury concerns by the end of the match.
But Roos’ coach Brad Scott says none of the five have been ruled out of Friday night’s clash.
“We're more positive today than we were probably Saturday night with a few of them, but again I wish I could give you more definitive information. I'm still waiting on that information myself," Scott said on Tuesday morning
"What I can say is a similar line to what I've been saying the last few weeks in that we've got really solid depth on our list and we've got a lot of players who have been really pushing for senior selection and have just missed their opportunity due to the form of the team and the form of others in their position.
"So we're in a position with the combination of our win-loss to this point, and also the depth on our list, that we won't have to make rash decisions to try and get guys up to play if they're not right. If they're not right, we'll just bring the next player in."
Key players
North Melbourne is on top of the ladder for good reason, but it’s hard to name a standout player.
Swallow (who leads the competition in tackles), Cunnington and Jack Ziebell have been important in the engine room, while Jarrad Waite and evergreen veteran Brent Harvey have combined for 50 goals.
Daniel Wells has been exceptional in 2016, after missing almost all of last year through injury, while Robbie Tarrant and Scott Thompson provide stability in defence.
Potential changes
It’s likely to depend on which North Melbourne players are fit off the back of a six-day break.
The Roos withdrew Trent Dumont, Farren Ray and yet-to-debut forward Corey Wagner from Werribee’s VFL match on Sunday, while reserve ruckman Majak Daw only played a half.
