North Melbourne small forward Kayne Turner loves a goal but above all prides himself on his ability to apply forward-half pressure.

That ability this week earned Turner a new two-year deal that ties him to the Kangaroos until the end of 2020.

The 22-year-old said the Roos had shown so much faith in him in his five years at the club that he couldn't wait to repay them over the next two and a half seasons.

"We all set out each game to just bring massive amounts of pressure. Along with guys like Shaun Atley, Jy Simpkin and Jed Anderson, I think we've been able to do that so far this year, so that's sort of my role at the moment," Turner said.

"Obviously, goals are great when they come along, but our role is try and turn the ball over in our forward half and bring pressure, just make it a lot easier for the defenders and midfielders up the field, which I think we've doing a good job of.

"Every line meeting we go into with 'Lurker' (forwards coach Leigh Tudor) we look for pressure, work rate, (whether we) tackled well and were able to turn the ball over on numerous occasions – just things like that that the coaches will see but maybe people outside won't see."

Turner has kicked just one goal from this year's opening eight rounds, but he was a regular goalkicker last season, kicking 17 from a career-high 15 games.

The former Murray Bushranger's form was so good in 2017 he was in the top two at the halfway mark of North's best and fairest count before a knee injury sidelined him for seven rounds.

After finishing 15th last season, the Kangaroos were widely predicted to remain near the bottom of the ladder in 2018 following the departures of veterans such as Brent Harvey, Drew Petrie, Daniel Wells, Nick Dal Santo, Michael Firrito, Andrew Swallow and Lindsay Thomas over the previous two years.

So their 4-4 start to the season has surprised many commentators, but not Turner.

"I love the club, and the direction we're heading in – I think everyone can see – is special. I want to be part of that," Turner said.

"Everyone was talking rebuild but we never said that ourselves. It might have looked like that to the outside world, but we knew what we were capable of and I just wanted to be a part of that.

"Even though we do have a younger group, it's not a rebuilding phase for us. We're still as competitive as we've ever been, so it's just an exciting time and I couldn't wait to stay onboard.

"(To get) another two years at this club with so much history it's just really exciting and I can't wait to add to that history."

Taken in the rookie draft at the end of 2013, Turner has played 44 games and kicked 34 goals for North Melbourne.