Daniel Wells has been watched more closely than any other North Melbourne player in recent weeks with the club’s medical team eager to assess his recovery from a debilitating Achilles injury.

With the end of the year drawing near, the silky midfielder has been in a race against the clock to make it back into the senior side.

Today, the veteran surprised the Roos’ match committee by receiving a somewhat premature “all clear” to make his long awaited return to football via the VFL.

“It’s a bit of a surprise to us too but to get him in this week is a big bonus for us,” Brad Scott told NMFC.com.au late on Thursday afternoon.

“He’s really excited and wants to play. It’s been frustrating for him because we’ve had to hold him back. To give him the green light, he was ecstatic.”

Wells has only managed one and a half games so far this season after being subbed out in Round 2 against Brisbane with Achilles soreness.

North expected to have Wells back soon according to Scott, but no-one anticipated today’s news.

“We’d spoken about it during the week and even right up to the start of training today, the thought was that he wouldn’t be available for selection this week but hoped he’d be closer next week,” Scott explained.

“He pulled up better than we anticipated today and was able to do the main skills session which he hasn’t been able to do up until this point.

“It was always the plan to progress him along and see how he was pulling up. He was doing some strides today at training and felt really good so we progressed his load from there and he joined in some main training and trained really well. He looked really solid and is now medically clear to play.”

The 30-year-old will be named in the North Ballarat side on Thursday night but Scott said he still has one more hurdle to jump through before he runs out.

“He’s still got to pull up well and that’s been the challenge for us; getting that continuity. He’s done a fair bit of work it just that he’s be inconsistent with how he’s pulled up. So he’ll still have to recover well but the signs are good at this point,” Scott said.

“For all North Melbourne people it’s great news. He’s a really important part of our side and an irreplaceable player so to have him back and available soon is a massive bonus.”

Wells is expected to play around 50 per cent of North Ballarat’s match against Collingwood at Victoria Park on Saturday.