AS SELF-ASSURED as he looks lining up a shot for goal, Aaron Edwards feels far from settled in North Melbourne's senior team.

In many ways, it's a surprising self-assessment.

After all, Edwards struck the best form of his career in 2011, kicking 36.8 from 19 games. And he has continued that form into this year, kicking a team-high 14.4 from the first five rounds.

Since 2010, Edwards has also emphatically stamped himself as the Kangaroos' straightest-shooter, kicking 75.17 at a remarkable 81.5 per cent conversion rate.

This season, North has made Edwards its forward-50 target more than ever too, in an attempt to reduce its reliance on co-vice-captain Drew Petrie.

And, in the most obvious indication he has now cemented a permanent spot in North's forward line, Edwards has not missed a game since round eight last season. His current run of 21 consecutive games surpasses his previous best streaks by 10 games (rounds two-12, 2007, and round 21, 2007-round 6, 2008).

Despite all this, Edwards baulked at any suggestion he was ensconced in North's line-up when he spoke with AFL.com.au this week.

"I don't take my spot in the team for granted, I never have," Edwards said.

"Even last year, I did play a big chunk of consecutive games at the end of the season, but that didn't guarantee me a starting spot this year.

"I just had to work for it and I think I have worked for it. I'll continue to battle to hold my spot. I never feel settled.

"But I definitely see myself as more of a senior player now, as opposed to previous years when I was just hopeful of getting a game."

At 28, Edwards is entitled to see himself as a senior Kangaroo. There are now just three players on North's developing list that are older than him - Brent Harvey, 34 in less than two weeks' time, Petrie, 29, and Michael Firrito, 28.

But Edwards' career games tally, 74, underlines his struggle to find a permanent foothold in his previous eight AFL seasons (which included three years on West Coast's rookie list).

Edwards' battle looked set to continue when he was dropped after North lost its first three games last season.

At the time, North coach Brad Scott conceded Edwards had been unlucky. But Edwards says his form had been "just OK".

Edwards missed three games before winning a recall on the back of a 10-goal haul against Geelong's VFL team. Returning in round eight against Melbourne, he vindicated North's faith with a career-high six-goal game.

But Edwards says the secret to his career turnaround did not lie solely in goals.

"When I went back to the VFL I really wanted to work on the way we wanted to play," he says. "I really wanted to nail the game plan and it's now something that I regard myself as knowing really well."

"It was also a case of making sure I was doing all the little things - tackling, defensive pressure and second efforts - not just kicking the goals.

"A forward is more than just the goalkicker these days and I wanted to try to round my game off. It's something I'm still working on."

Edwards says it is imperative in today's game that forwards work as a team, spreading both the defensive workload and the rewards for their toil - goals.

Edwards speaks highly of the team ethic in North's forward line, highlighting Petrie's preparedness to create space for his fellow forwards against Geelong, by leading Cats key defender Harry Taylor up the ground and away from the play.

But he says the attitude of North's forward line is reflective of the competition as a whole, noting that the competition's goalkicking table is a far cry from the golden 1990s era when Jason Dunstall, Tony Lockett and Gary Ablett snr regularly averaged six goals or more a game. After round five, Geelong's Tom Hawkins leads the competition on 18 goals at an average of 3.6 goals a game, while Edwards, himself, is equal third (14 goals at an average of 2.8).

"That's the way footy's gone," Edwards said. "I guess footy goes through phases and while you'll always have the guy who kicks five or six goals, the next week he might not kick any and someone else in the team will kick five or six.

"As long as you hit the scoreboard, it doesn't really matter who kicks the goals these days."

Given his refusal to take his senior spot for granted, it's hardly surprising Edwards is not one to set season or long-term goals. However, he concedes reaching 100 AFL games is a "mini-goal" now he is in sight of the milestone.

But Edwards quickly regains his team focus.

"My personal goal - and I'm sure it would be everyone on the team's goal as well as the coaching staff's - is to play finals this year," he said.

The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL