Todd Goldstein can't think of a better way for North Melbourne to start its 2015 season than at a hostile Adelaide Oval overflowing with Crows fans.

North has not won a round one game since 2009 when, under then-coach Dean Laidley, it defeated Melbourne by 34 points.

Since Brad Scott took over at the start of 2010, North has lost all five of its season-opening clashes, while 125-gamer Goldstein has never been part of a round-one win.

The Roos have only played at Adelaide Oval once before, losing to the Crows by 36 points in round 13 last year, and their last away win against Adelaide came in round 21, 2003.

Earlier this month North lost to Adelaide in round one of the NAB Challenge, going down by 10 points in Port Lincoln.

Goldstein told reporters on Sunday that North was well prepared for round one after closing its NAB Challenge campaign with wins over Hawthorn and Richmond.
The ruckman also said key players such as Drew Petrie (ankle), Lindsay Thomas (foot), Ben Brown (knee), Aaron Black (shoulder), Majak Daw (dislocated foot) and Robbie Tarrant (tibia) had all overcome slow starts to the pre-season and would be ready to take on the Crows.

Goldstein acknowledged there were few tougher venues than Adelaide Oval for visiting teams but said the Roos could feed off the energy of what should be a packed stadium on April 5.

"It's definitely a very tough environment but it's also a very exciting one," Goldstein said.

"If you've got a packed-out stadium whether they're supporting you or against you it doesn't really matter. It gets your adrenaline going, it gets you ready for the game.

"We know it's going to be a hostile environment but what better way to start the season (than) trying to go there and get a win."

Goldstein said North's coaching staff had "drip-fed" the players information on the Crows' game style over the past month, and now their NAB Challenge campaign was over they could focus "100 per cent' on their round one opponent.

The ruckman said North still faced the "great problem" of trying to work out which talls would lead its forward line in round one, with Black, Brown, Mason Wood and Daw all vying for spots alongside Petrie and Jarrad Waite.

The Crows have no shortage of tall timber in attack either with Taylor Walker, James Podsiadly and Josh Jenkins all in contention to play in round one.

Goldstein said the pre-season form of Robbie Tarrant and Joel Tippett in defence meant that even with Nathan Grima (back) ruled out and Lachlan Hansen (hips) in doubt, North was confident it had enough backline height and muscle to quell the Crows' talls.

North vice-captain Jack Ziebell was concussed in the second quarter of Saturday's win over Richmond after he was accidentally caught high while trying to tackle Alex Rance.

But Goldstein was confident Ziebell would be fit to take on the Crows.

"I haven't spoken to him today, but from everything I've heard he was up and about five minutes after he got into the rooms and I spoke to him on the bench and he said he was feeling pretty good," Goldstein said.

"He's obviously got to get assessed this week by the doctors and over the next couple of weeks, but that's the beauty of having the weekend off coming up is it gives him every chance to get up for round one."