Chris Scott is confident a three-week period without an AFL game won’t affect the mindset of his players.

Geelong’s clash against Adelaide was cancelled following the passing of Crows coach Phil Walsh last week, with the Cats having the bye the week prior.

“It’s presented some challenges, but it’s presented some opportunity as well,” Scott said of the break.

“We have worked on some parts of our game that would have been difficult if we had have played on the weekend.

“The reality for us is it’s a bit of different situation; we are going into the unknown a little bit (with a three-week break), but in the scheme of things having a little bit more time between games seems pretty insignificant.

“I’m trying to be really careful to be respectful of the situation, but from here our responsibility is to prepare as well as we possibly can for the game on Saturday night.”

Scott said the Cats’ players had no excuses but to perform after a long lay-off.

“We’ve still got a little bit to go in our preparation, but we feel positive that we’ll be in good shape. We certainly won’t be looking back and complaining about our lead-in.

“In terms of niggly injuries hopefully that will be a positive. Guys will go into the game in better shape than they would have otherwise.

“The lack of match practice is intangible … it’s difficult to assess.”

Like North, Geelong has had an inconsistent start to the year. It sits tenth on the table coming off two losses in a row.

The Roos are 11th after a disappointing defeat at the hands of the Suns.

“You prepare for their best,” Scott said of the challenge North presents.

“That’s what we’ll do with every opposition, we prepare for them to play at their best.

“North has been exceptionally good, particularly at Etihad under the roof.

“We’re well aware that they’ve got some strengths that are going to be difficult for us to combat, but with the greatest respect to every opposition team our biggest focus is making sure we play our best footy.”

Scott confirmed dynamic onballer Jimmy Bartel would make his return to the side, having not played since Round 3.

"He's missed a lot of footy but he was exceptionally good in the VFL last week, so that's hopefully a pointer to what we'll see on Saturday night,” Scott said.

"But we've played virtually the whole season without him. Hopefully he'll come in and add something rather than be the player that we build our whole game around.”