North coach Brad Scott says the week off has seen the players return refreshed and ready for finals.

Come Saturday night, it will be a fortnight since the Roos’ last match, with the break proving valuable for those racing the clock to prove their fitness.

“The weekend off has thrown a different challenge at us, but it’s come at a really good time for us,” Scott told the media on Tuesday.

“It certainly helped us. We had a lot to digest over the last couple of weeks, on and off field.

“We’ve had some challenges with player availability, but the extra week’s given a lot of those guys the opportunity to push forward.”

Jarrad Waite and Scott Thompson are among those hoping to push their case for a recall.

“We’ve had really good numbers on the track, both Friday and Monday, so we are going to have a lot of decisions to make on that front,” Scott said.

“We’re probably in as good a spot as we’ve been in the second half of the year in terms of player freshness and player availability.”

Andrew Swallow echoed the thoughts of his coach.

“Having the week off has really worked in our favour,” he said.

“It’s been a difficult couple of weeks, but I think everyone had a good chance to just re-focus, get away, spend some time with family and the last couple of sessions have been as good as we’ve trained all year.”

North will train on Wednesday in Melbourne, then Friday in Adelaide, as finals’ fever hits.

“We’re looking forward to it. There’s that September feeling in the air in Melbourne,” Scott added.