North Melbourne captain Jack Ziebell made a welcome return to full training on Monday.

“It’s good to be back, it’s been a long time coming,” the midfielder-turned-forward told North Media.

Ziebell has had a largely interrupted pre-season so far after surgery on his knee, before a calf issue delayed his return further.

But with just under five weeks left until the season-opener against Fremantle in Perth, the skipper is feeling refreshed.

“My body is in a good position and I feel mentally fresh, and I’m looking forward to getting stuck in over the next four or five weeks before Round 1.”

North takes on St Kilda and Port Adelaide in this year’s JLT Community Series, and Ziebell said he’s ready to put his hand up for selection.

“I’ll play both JLT games,” he said.

“I think I’ve timed my run well, and should be able to get enough game-sense under my belt to be able to do that, and I’ll be cherry ripe for Round 1 as well. ”

Having missed a fair chunk of the pre-season so far, the North number 7 is looking to make up for lost time.

“I’ll probably do a bit more work over the next few weeks as they’ve (his teammates) just done a big block of training which I missed, so I’m in a heavier training phase than the others,” Ziebell added.

“When we get to the JLT games I’ll probably pull back a bit to be fresh for Round 1, but there’s only a couple of weeks left and we are into it.”