North vice-captain Jack Ziebell says his time in Utah will help build his fitness base as his side prepares for its 2016 campaign.

The first to five year players are now into pre-season training, with several other senior players joining them, including Ziebell, Shaun Atley, Shaun Higgins and Jamie Macmillan.

Ziebell said the high altitude work load would help him attack his own pre-season campaign in Melbourne with an improved level of fitness after going under the knife once the season finished.

“Apart from getting out of Australia and breaking pre-season up, I had shoulder surgery at the end of last year and I haven’t been able to run for six weeks post that,” Ziebell told NMFC.com.au.

“So, just to get a bit of a headstart on my fitness and just trying to make sure when I get back to pre-season in Australia I’m ready to go and I can really take my workload up a few notches.”

The 24-year-old described his post-season shoulder surgery as a “fix up” and said it wouldn’t delay his start to 2016 in any way.

“It’s been ongoing for a couple of years, but it hasn’t stopped me from playing footy or anything like that. So, while the time’s is right in the off-season, we just wanted to make sure we could get it right for the longevity of my career,” he said.

And that career is set to be exclusively at North Melbourne, with Ziebell signing a new five-year-deal in October which will see him remain at the club until at least 2021.

“I wouldn’t want to play anywhere else. It’s a great club, they’ve been fantastic for me,” he added.

“The list we’ve been building so far is really competitive and we are not too far away from what we want to do and win that premiership and I couldn’t be happier with where I’m at and how we are going to look in the future."

Among the players in Deer Valley, near Salt Lake City, is new recruit Jed Anderson, who Ziebell said had fitted in seamlessly so far after meeting his teammates for the first time en route to America.

“I’m actually rooming with Jed, so it’s nice to meet him. He’s a nice fella and I think he can play as well.

“We’re really excited to get him across to North and hopefully his best footy is in front of him because I think he can really help our team.”

Anderson’s addition at Arden St could also help the Roos take another step in September, with the pain of consecutive Preliminary Final losses driving the entire playing group to improve, according to Ziebell.

“I think the boys have had enough of losing prelim finals to tell you the truth,” he said.

“We’ve done it the last two years and people say ‘good effort to get there’ and that, but in our minds we wanted to make another step and win a Premiership and if we don’t do that, then the year is a failure in a sense.

“We’re not going to rest until we ultimately hold that cup up and starting here in pre-season in Utah. The boys have come back in really good shape and we can’t wait to get stuck back into it.”