Encouraged by his experience with WAFL club East Fremantle, Anthony made a seamless transition to the elite level in 2009, averaging 25 possessions in 10 games.
In strengthening a young midfield missing Wells and Jack Ziebell through injury, he showed more than enough to suggest his responsibility - and the scrutiny of stoppers - would continue to grow.
"I got a little bit of attention in a few games last year but probably nothing compared to what I could get this year," the 22-year-old said.
"It will be really important to get a good fitness base so I can try to outrun them.
"I've had a talk to a few of the coaches about that sort of thing. I thought I finished the season off reasonably well last year and going into this year, I'm pretty confident of playing in the midfield."
Arriving at North via its third-round selection in the 2008 NAB AFL Draft, Anthony would have made his debut in round one last year if not for a stress fracture in his foot.
Sidelined for eight weeks, he resumed in the VFL and had to wait until round 13 to break into the senior side.
"I came over (from Western Australia) when I was 21 and had pretty high expectations of myself," he said. "I expected to play straight away.
"When I got in the side I was pretty happy to hold down a spot. Hopefully I can get in there for round one [this season] and hold my spot for as long as I can."
Anthony was eventually handed his opportunity by Darren Crocker, who had been appointed caretaker coach following Dean Laidley's resignation.
As midfield coach, Crocker will again look to Anthony as he builds a group of players around Harvey and best and fairest winner Andrew Swallow, but without the retired Adam Simpson.
Wells and Ziebell will return while Cruize Garlett, Levi Greenwood, Sam Wright, Ben Ross, Leigh Adams and draftees Ben Cunnington and Ryan Bastinac should vie for early selection.
Forwards Matt Campbell and Lindsay Thomas and defenders Leigh Harding and Gavin Urquhart will also be used in bursts.
"It can look pretty potent," Anthony said. "We're young at the moment but we've got some genuine ball-winners in there with Andrew, Jack and Cruize.
"Once we start playing a few games and jelling together ... don't write us off towards the end of the year.
"I think he (Crocker) holds a lot of respect for us young kids. And he probably expects a lot out of us, which we expect from ourselves."
Anthony said he had fully recovered from a November accident where he severed a tendon in his left ring finger on a glass lamp.
He missed two months' ball work but has been back in full training for five weeks.
With his conditioning at 90 per cent, Anthony expects to play half of Sunday's NAB Cup match against Geelong.
Liam Anthony is a $422,700 midfielder in this year's Toyota AFL Dream Team.
