Ahead of Todd Goldstein's 300th game, North Melbourne senior coach Alastair Clarkson has lauded the ruck's talent and ability to evolve over his 17-year journey.

Goldstein will become the sixth Kangaroo to achieve the milestone this weekend, following in the footsteps of North Melbourne greats Wayne Schimmelbusch, Glenn Archer, Adam Simpson, Brent Harvey and Drew Petrie.

Given how much the game has changed over the past decade, Clarkson says the way Goldstein has been able to adapt makes his milestone even more significant.

"There will be plenty of others better equipped than me - given I've only been at the club for five minutes compared to many others at the club - to speak on 'Goldy's' behalf, but what I will speak to is that (with) any 300-game player, it indicates that they've played at the top level for 15 years," Clarkson told reporters on Tuesday morning.

"That is a superb effort because the way the game is played nowadays, there's a significant evolution of the game that continues to change each year in terms of the style of play ... particularly in the ruck role.

"Goldy would have seen a lot of change in the 15 years or so that he's played the game, but he's been able to evolve and adapt and he can still play some really good footy.

"So (we take our) hats off for Goldy and anyone else in the competition that gets to 300 games."

Goldstein is set to celebrate the achievement when he runs onto the turf of Heritage Bank Stadium on the Gold Coast for North Melbourne's Round 6 clash against the Suns.

Despite the Suns' relatively poor start to 2023, Clarkson believes Gold Coast has the ability to punish his side if they don't improve their midfield production.

"They're a good side ... I feel like they're a much better side than (one with) only one win," Clarkson said.

"They've played some good footy without getting across the line and they were a little bit unfortunate on the weekend (against Fremantle), they were not so much in control of that game but they certainly made a great fist of it.

"We know the middle of the ground is a really important part of the game, which it is in every game really, but that's the Gold Coast side's real strength.

"At the end of the day we spoke about the weekend's game for us but best on ground was Lachie Neale (against Brisbane) and we didn't win that midfield battle, and if you give any opposition the supply particularly when we weren't in sync with our defensive stability structures behind the ball, then you're gonna pay the price against a good side.

"And we'll pay the price this week against Gold Coast too if we can't have a strong contest around the middle of the ground."

North Melbourne will likely be without co-captain Jy Simpkin, however, as it looks to respond to its 75-point Gather Round defeat to the Lions.

The midfielder has had a plate inserted into his hand after an incident in Saturday's clash led to him being subbed out at half-time.

"We're uncertain," Clarkson said on Simpkin's availability.

"Sometimes guys can come back from (that type of injury) in one week, sometimes it takes four, so we're uncertain what that will look like until he gets at least five-six days out from post-surgery ... then we'll make an assessment from there."

After a break from VFL action, draftee George Wardlaw is tracking towards a return to the level and isn't expected to feature in the AFL squad just yet.

"He's a big part of our future and that's why we've been really patient," Clarkson mentioned.

"We want to give him the best chance to have success when he comes into the side and we just need to make sure his preparation is ideal.

"Some of that is a really strong training block which he's done and now it's a really good match conditioning block and he's part of the way through that."