The middle of the ground is set to be bolstered for North Melbourne this weekend with three players looking to have shaken off the injuries that kept them sidelined against the Power in Round 9.

Co-vice captain Jy Simpkin and Round 7 NAB AFL Rising Star nominee Jason Horne-Francis look due to rejoin the midfield against Narrm (Melbourne) after recovering from their respective hamstring issues, while ruck Tristan Xerri is ahead of schedule in recovering from a foot injury.

Simpkin and Horne-Francis only missed last week's contest while Xerri hasn't played since the Round 6 clash with Geelong.

General manager of football performance Dan McPherson says the availability of all three players hinges on their ability to get through the club's main training session.

"Jy got a bit sore in the captain's run down in Tassie on Friday afternoon so we didn't want to take any risks with him. He woke up on Saturday morning and he was still a little bit sore," McPherson told North Media.

"We've got our main training tomorrow and provided he gets through that which we expect he will then he should be right to play.

"[Jason] is in a similar boat to Jy, he was sore in training earlier in the week last week and we didn't want to take too many risks with him given he's a young player … we'd rather he miss one game than potentially four or five. In line with Jy if Jase gets through training he'll be selected.

"Tristan has actually recovered much more quickly than we thought, so again he'll train tomorrow and provided he gets through that he'll be available to play this weekend which is a great result."

While the impending return of Simpkin and Horne-Francis is positive for the Kangaroos' midfield, Will Phillips will be on the sidelines indefinitely as he looks to recover from glandular fever.

Phillips picked up the illness in the late stages of pre-season and returned to play three games of VFL football before returning to the sidelines.

He made his return in the tight VFL win over Footscray on Good Friday before appearing to ramp up his recovery with strong performances against Frankston and Carlton.

>> Click here for the full injury list, thanks to AIA Vitality

McPherson says there's no pressure on any set return date for the second-year player.

"Will had a bout of glandular fever a couple of months ago now and he's just struggling to shake it off. He came back and he played a couple of games in the VFL three or four weeks ago but he's really struggled since," McPherson said.

"He's had a little bit of a battle unfortunately and we don't really have a timeline on when Will will be back.

"He was here trying to do a bit of training yesterday and he's pulled up quite fatigued from that. It's a day-by-day proposition with Will at the moment."

North's defence will be without two key members for the foreseeable future as Ben McKay and Aaron Hall continue to recover from knee and hamstring injuries respectively.

McKay suffered a medial strain against Fremantle two weeks ago, while Hall looks to have hit a roadblock in his return.

The number 43 has been sidelined since being substituted out of the Good Friday SuperClash.

"I saw Ben McKay walking around without the brace on today which is a good sign but I think he'll still be two or three weeks before he's back to play," McPherson said.

"'Hally' had a bit of a setback with his hamstring a couple of weeks ago, we hope to have him back available for senior selection in 2-3 weeks."