There was a time late last season when North Melbourne coach Brad Scott had to pull his first-year captain, Jack Ziebell – from the line-up for his own good.

Scott saw it as his way of protecting Ziebell from himself, and post-season, at the Roos' best and fairest count, the coach revealed the extent of his star's injuries.

There was a broken collarbone, cracked ribs and a severely injured toe, on which the ever-courageous Ziebell eventually had surgery.

Some of them overlapped, making the 26-year-old's task even greater.

Ziebell will skipper North again in 2018, in a leadership group comprising vice-captain Robbie Tarrant, club champion Shaun Higgins and Jamie Macmillan that was unchanged from 2017, bar the retired Andrew Swallow's exit.

But he detailed to AFL.com.au at Arden St on Monday just how difficult it was for him to get through a season he played 19 of his 166 games.

"It was pretty tough. Being in a position of leadership, you want to set the example in every instance you can," Ziebell said.

"Probably, at times … if there were guys fit, ready to play at the time, I might not have played. But, in saying that, I wanted to play every game I could.

"I've missed a lot of football early in my career and I've forever said to myself that I'd have to be pretty injured to not play.

"It's more mental than physical … I was fit enough to play, and played well in a few of those games, but it probably did have an impact on how I was playing towards the back end of the year."

Recovery from toe surgery mostly kept Ziebell off the track pre-Christmas, but he told AFL.com.au he felt in his best shape for "probably two years".

The tough midfielder barely had a break in the Christmas period and rejoined the main group on Monday, as training officially resumed at North Melbourne.

Ziebell's five-goal second half against Collingwood in round 20 last year, after breaking his ribs late in the second term, also provided a reminder of his ability in front of the ball.

"I'll probably play midfield and go forward a little bit, as I did last year, and depending on what the team needs I'll always say that I'll play where the coach tells me to play," he said.

"I really enjoy the forward line. Not many players don't like kicking goals, so if you can get one or two, we enjoy that."

The key to Ziebell spending more time alongside Ben Brown, Jarrad Waite and Mason Wood in the forward 50 is his teammates.

A shallow midfield rotation made that tempting option hard for Scott to trial, but Ziebell said that area had improved at the club.

Ben Jacobs (foot), who last played in the AFL in May 2016, trained with the main group on Monday and looms as a major addition if he can become a regular.

High draft picks Luke Davies-Uniacke and Jy Simpkin are others Ziebell hopes can bolster the Kangaroos' centre-square presence behind Higgins and Ben Cunnington.

"(Davies-Uniacke's) obviously a pretty mature body for his age, which is great to see," Ziebell said.

"He did a couple of drills pre-Christmas – I wasn't out there training, but watching from the sidelines – (and) he just looks comfortable at the level.

"I think he's going to be a very good player for us for a very long time."

Sam Durdin (elbow) and Jed Anderson (left thumb) were in non-contact vests during training on Monday.

Ed Vickers-Willis (ankle), Marley Williams (back), Sam Wright (ankle) and Declan Watson (knee) sat out, while Taylor Garner trained inside.