NORTH Melbourne's Matt Campbell says it will be "something special" when teammate Daniel Wells reaches full fitness again.

Wells is in the last stage of his recovery from osteitis pubis, which limited him to just seven games in 2009 and required post-season surgery.

Senior assistant coach Darren Crocker said last week that the club hoped Wells could return for the second half of the NAB Cup competition.

The 25-year-old remains on a modified program, which kept him from the track at Tuesday's session, but Campbell believes the midfielder will play in round one.

"He's done a few training sessions where he's come in at the start and done the first half-hour," Campbell said. "He hasn't missed a beat skill-wise [which isn't surprising] for a guy with that much skill.

"He stood out a fair bit in those drills. He [forced] a few turnovers and was hitting his targets pretty easily.

"The thing with Wellsy now is he's got to get his groins right. When he gets fit and firing - and I know a lot of Kangaroos supporters are waiting for it - it's going to be something special.

"With the midfield we've got now, Wellsy, Brent Harvey and Jack Ziebell can lead this club pretty much anywhere."

Campbell said Wells, Harvey and Ziebell would also spend time in the forward line this year, with North looking for an attack to complement new coach Brad Scott's game plan.

Assistant coach Brett Allison has worked with the squad's key forwards throughout the pre-season while smaller types including Campbell, Lindsay Thomas, Leigh Adams and Ben Ross have trained in Crocker's midfield group.

"We sort of play forward but we get up into the midfield so we've got to know every stoppage and where they want us," Campbell said.

"I think we have the right forwards to create a bit of [havoc] and keep the ball in. One of the biggest things of the pre-season was keeping the ball in our forward half. [If] we have the ball up in our forward half, we're likely to win more games.

"[Brad's] put a good mix of forwards up there and he's got a good mix of young midfielders with good fitness bases who can work both ways."

Campbell added that Scott had made an "unbelievable" impression in his first pre-season, to the point where the players were confident they could return to finals after finishing 13th last year.

"The main thing is he's come in and set down the foundation for the way he wants us to play and the boys have followed," he said.

"But on the other hand, he's open to ideas. If someone thinks something else might work, he's not a coach to say, 'No, we're doing it this way'.

"In meetings, if anyone gets a question wrong ... he doesn't bang them over the head or anything. It's more of a learning thing. The best thing is he's learning, too."

North will return to Ballarat for Friday's second intra-club practice match, with Andrew Swallow (groin), Michael Firrito (ankle), Liam Anthony (finger), Adams (knee) and Josh Smith (groin) expected to play.

The match will be played across four 15 to 20-minute quarters as the squad builds into its NAB Cup opener against Geelong on February 21.

Looking to put a 2009 season marred by hamstring injuries behind him, Campbell was among the more prominent players in last week's 36-minute hit-out.