North Melbourne is attempting to shore up its backline in 2015, according to skipper Andrew Swallow.

The Kangaroos return to the track after the long weekend with Swallow saying that defence has again been a focus of the club's pre-season work.

"We use the ball well when it's in our hands, but we're tweaking things to find the right balance," he told SEN 1116 on Tuesday.

"We let (through) too many easy goals, particularly the year before last.

"We were a bit better last year, but we can still get better at that again.

"We need to be more stringent there if we want to go to the next level."

The Kangaroos have been drawing on their 71-point loss to the Sydney Swans in last year's preliminary final as a guide to where they can improve.

"You only need to look back at that game and what they did to us up there. We're using that as motivation to where we need to go from there."

Swallow said that the addition of Western Bulldogs midfielder Shaun Higgins would be a key for the Kangaroos this season.

"Higgins can play anywhere for us and adds class with footy in hand," he said.

"We have a lot of grunt players, myself included, but Daniel Wells, Shaun and Brent Harvey makes it easier to get the ball down there and kick a winning score."

He also forecast that the addition of Jarrad Waite from Carlton, along with the further development of Ben Brown, would take the pressure off key forward Drew Petrie, who he said North had relied on for too long to kick most of their goals.

"We have struggled for guys to make that their spot," he said.