It's the question on everyone's lips - will Brad Scott swing the axe following North Melbourne's round one loss?

Trailing by as many as 50 points in the third quarter, wholesale changes looked inevitable. But huge improvement in the second half saw the Roos go close to snatching an unlikely win and Scott was presented with a dilemma ahead of round two.

Making it more difficult for the first-year coach is the form of those who played in the VFL last week.

Five goals to Aaron Edwards and four to Ben Speight makes them hard to ignore, especially considering the Kangaroos have averaged just nine goals in their past five outings against the Saints.

Corey Jones is waiting in the wings having travelled with the team to Adelaide as an emergency while Robbie Tarrant returned to a familiar role up forward last week for Werribee and booted three goals.

Ben Cunnington is another who could be close to a debut after an eye-catching performance for North Ballarat and Nathan Grima must be a chance for a recall considering his strong performance against the Saints in round 21 last year.

But who will they replace? Only one North Melbourne player had under 10 possessions last week and the side's youngsters looked to have done everything right.

Debutant Ryan Bastinac should get another chance after grabbing 23 possessions while Jack Ziebell and Liam Anthony continue to cement their positions in the side despite having played just over 20 games between them.

Ben Warren was impressive up forward in tough conditions and Leigh Adams did plenty to justify his selection.

There's going to be some tough decisions made and all will be revealed at 5pm on Thursday afternoon as kangaroos.com.au gives you the team first.