Despite facing a brutal schedule which involves back-to-back trips between Brisbane and Perth, North Melbourne won’t be making any excuses according to Jack Ziebell.

“The more you travel the more you get used to it,” Ziebell told the West Australian.

“With four home games in Hobart, it helps you to familiarise yourself with hotels.”

The Roos arrived in Perth on Thursday afternoon and held an open training at Optus Stadium on Friday to acclimatise.

“We’re accustomed to travelling now. We’ve lightened the load a little bit this week,” Ziebell added.

“The sports science guys have been on top of it and we’ve known it was coming.

“We’ve got good availability and the guys have trained really well so we’re looking forward to it. It’s back-to-back travels, but Fremantle and West Coast do it every second week so there’s no excuse.”

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The skipper more focused on how the team will stop Jack Darling and Josh Kennedy with key defender Scott Thompson out with a ruptured testicle.

“We’ve got depth down there,” Ziebell said. 

“Robbie Tarrant is in All-Australian form and Sammy Durdin has been in for the last month and played some really important roles for us. 

“We’ve got Jasper Pittard and Jamie Macmillan, who can play a little bit taller than they are, so we’ve got a bit of flexibility even though Scotty is a big loss.

“This is a big challenge against the reigning premiers and it’s something we’re looking forward to.”