TEAM EXPLAINED: Barring injury, North's team mostly selects itself. Robbie Tarrant and Majak Daw provide the height and marking in defence, meaning Sam Durdin and Ben McKay will likely have to bide their time in the VFL at the start of the season. Experienced recruits Jared Polec, Jasper Pittard (more on him soon), Aaron Hall and Dom Tyson all come into the 22. We have left out all of North's draftees, although Tarryn Thomas and Tom Wilkinson, in particular, have all summer to push their selection cases. At his best, Taylor Garner is comfortably in the Roos' best team, but the injury-plagued forward is on a modified pre-season program and we're banking on him being eased into the season via the VFL. Kayne Turner gets the second forward pocket spot narrowly over Nathan Hrovat, while emerging midfielder Luke Davies-Uniacke misses out but should play plenty of senior football in 2019.
PRE-SEASON BATTLE: We have gone with Pittard as the Roos' second half-back flanker, but the former Port speedster faces a battle to lock down that spot for round one. Luke McDonald is determined to atone for a disappointing 2018 season and will be a prime contender for the role, as will veteran Sam Wright and rookie Tom Murphy. Ed Vickers-Willisis another strong candidate although his bid for selection will depend on how quickly his PCL rehabilitation progresses. - Nick Bowen
B: Marley Williams, Robbie Tarrant, Ed Vickers-Willis
HB: Jamie Macmillan, Majak Daw, Jasper Pittard
C: Jared Polec, Ben Jacobs, Trent Dumont
HF: Mason Wood, Jack Ziebell, Jy Simpkin
F: Shaun Atley, Ben Brown, Kayne Turner
Foll: Todd Goldstein, Ben Cunnington, Shaun Higgins
I/C: Jed Anderson, Paul Ahern, Dom Tyson, Aaron Hall
Defender depth: Sam Durdin, Ben McKay, Luke McDonald, Tom Murphy, Scott Thompson*, Declan Watson, Sam Wright
Forward depth: Joel Crocker, Taylor Garner, Nathan Hrovat, Nick Larkey, Red Og Murphy, Curtis Taylor, Tarryn Thomas, Tom Wilkinson, Cameron Zurhaar
Midfield depth: Luke Davies-Uniacke, Kyron Hayden, Tom McKenzie, Bailey Scott, Will Walker
Ruck depth: Tom Campbell, Tristan Xerri
