North Melbourne coach Brad Scott concedes the prospect of a full-strength side for round one of the AFL season is almost fanciful.
But with a third of North's list needing either off-season surgery or modified training programs, Scott's been buoyed at just how well the club has come through the past few months.
The Kangaroos' key-position stocks were hit particularly hard, with Drew Petrie, Lachie Hansen and Ben Brown among the many to go under the knife.
"They're all pretty much out on the track now. Lachie Hansen is not too far away and he's pretty much the last one," Scott said on Monday.
"We knew we'd walk a fine line and we're still walking that fine line.
"We're not taking anything for granted. We need everything to go right from this point on to get pretty close to our full-strength side in round one."
Scott noted many players had exceeded expectations in their recovery.
"Our guys have managed it extremely well. We're ahead of where I thought we'd be in terms of player availability," Scott said.
North bolstered their depth by signing ex-Carlton forward Jarrad Waite and former Western Bulldogs utility Shaun Higgins.
Scott has been impressed by both men and was confident Waite's body would hold up in 2015.
"He's had an injury-free pre-season, we've worked really hard on strengthening some areas of his body that have let him down in the past," Scott said.
"Pre-Christmas we didn't think we would have too much trouble picking 29 in a squad (for the opening pre-season game), but now there's some genuine competition and that's a good thing.
"We'd really like to see some new guys playing early on, but that'll be up to them and how they perform."
Scott revealed one change to the club's leadership group, with Jamie Macmillan stepping up at the expense of veteran Daniel Wells.
"Wellsy will step down ... if we just keep adding without subtracting, we end up with the whole team in the leadership group," Scott said.
"Which, all jokes aside, is sort of what we want.
"Guys who aren't designated official leaders in 2015, they'll still provide great leadership for us."
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