Tall defender Jack Frost has emerged as a chance to make his debut in round one, as Collingwood contemplates the team to take on North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

Collingwood is well aware of the potential influence of the Kangaroos' three tall forwards – Drew Petrie, Lachlan Hansen and Robbie Tarrant – the trio kicking eight of North Melbourne's 13 goals when they defeated the Magpies in round 21 last season,.

Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley said that the performance of Frost during the preseason had been impressive and had put him under consideration for selection.

"Jack Frost has been elevated on to the senior list and has proven his ability to shut down tall forwards in the absence of Nathan Brown and Ben Reid," Buckley said.

"He adds to our depth there and it becomes important, shutting down North's talls."

Frost played for Williamstown in 2012 and impressed late in the season at full-back. He was selected with pick 46 in the rookie draft before being elevated to the senior list last week.

Buckley said Reid was "up and about" while Brown was one of Collingwood's better performers in the final practice match against Geelong.

The Magpies have plenty of quality sitting on the injury list going into round one, but Buckley said the team had the depth to cover it and only players who had a solid block of training behind them would be considered this week.

"[The] intensity is going to be high and North are a hard running side," Buckley said.

The Magpies coach said the weekend's matches had seen plenty of long kicking and highly contested games of football, and he expected more of the same heading into the season proper.

He also agreed that round one was a danger game for every team in the competition as they gained the first indication as to how they line up against their opposition.

"North Melbourne are a quality side. They've proven that," Buckley said.

"Their second half of last year was excellent. I'm sure that they would feel like they are on the upward curve and they have got an opportunity to start their season off well, as do we."

Dale Thomas and Andrew Krakouer will return via the VFL team's practice match against the AIS-AFL Academy squad on Thursday night, while Buckley said Luke Ball's return remains anywhere up to a month away but he stressed that the time frame for the on-baller's comeback could change quite quickly.