The absence of Scott McMahon opens the door for a defender to fill the void in Round 1, and former Sun Taylor Hine is one player hoping to push his case for selection.

After an impressive first outing in North colours against Hawthorn a fortnight ago, the 21-year old looks one of the likely candidates for the vacant position.

“I’ll try (to) get out on the track as much as possible, do all the right things and get the body right, that’s all I can really do I guess,” Hine told NMFC.com.au after training on Monday.

After an interrupted pre-season recovering from shoulder surgery, Hine has hit the ground running since making his return to full contact training just under a month ago.

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