After a best on ground performance in North Melbourne's intra-club match last week at Eureka Stadium, Lindsay Thomas is looking forward to a season that offers the opportunity to erase 2011 from his mind.

Despite a strong start to last season with six goals in his first two matches, Thomas' goal kicking quickly deteriorated - rounds three to five producing just one goal from 16 scoring shots. As the bad run of form progressed, the woes began to mentally affect him.

''At times I was thinking about it a lot, when I was missing shots from 20 metres out, I would just think 'how did I do that','' Thomas told The Age's Matt Murnane.

''You felt like you were letting your teammates down. It did really get to me.''

Once 2011 concluded, Thomas focused doing everything possible to start the new year in the right frame of mind. That included recognising the elements of his game that he had to work on away from his kicking.

''Last year was obviously very disappointing, but I went away and worked on the stuff I had to and I came back to the club refreshed. I wanted to play up the ground a bit more so for that to happen I had to get fitter and stronger."

On his recall from his mid-season VFL stint, Thomas was played further up the ground and his field kicking was used to greater effect. With games late in the season against Fremantle and Richmond reaping totals of 20 possessions each, it was evident that playing closer to the middle had its advantages.

''The coach (Brad Scott) played me a bit higher up the ground the last three games last year and it worked really well,'' he said.

''So he's pretty keen to get me up high, closer to the midfield and pushing up to the stoppages.''

With a new role in place and his kicking woes behind him for the moment, Thomas is happy with the base he's set for himself.

"I'm pretty happy with where I am at. My body is better than it's felt in a while.''