In a wide-ranging interview, North Melbourne coach Brad Scott sat down with The Age's Emma Quayle to discuss the upcoming season.

Here is some of what said:

An 18-team competition

“What strikes me is that for the first time in history, there’s going to be 10 teams who aren’t playing finals in September.

“There seems to be a lot of talk about who should make it, and not as much about who won’t. We know what a fine line it is. Of course you want to be successful, but success depends on a lot of things. All I can really say is that I’m confident in our preparation. What that means about where we’ll finish, I just can’t say.”

His third season with a developing list

"In 2010 we had so much coaching to do with the players on how we wanted to play, but in 2011 we analysed things a lot more, we looked at things really closely and in so much more detail, and even when we were beaten we were able to show the players that we're on the right path. And they believe that, but even that has an end point, because you can't keep coming up with things to convince the players if they're not getting results. There's no doubt belief comes from performing on game day, and we've got to start getting that.

“We change and evolve all the time. You're constantly looking at things, but over-riding all that is the overall plan and the overall direction with our game plan and our list build. So I don't consider the alternative. I've just got the utmost confidence in what I'm doing and what we're doing, and the results will follow that. I think it's a trait of any successful person, that they back themselves and what they're doing."

The health of the squad

"We were the best team in the competition for avoiding soft-tissue injuries last year. We managed that side of things really well but we got a lot of things that were unavoidable and, in hindsight, it affected us. As a coach I think you're always focusing on what you've got available at the time, but it affected us more than I probably anticipated. There's no doubt our foundation is better this year. We track the volume of work we do and measure those things closely, and that's certainly picked up, but I suspect everyone has. The real measure we've got is the health and availability of our list, and that's significantly better than this time last year."

First year player Brad McKenzie

"He's very driven and very competitive. If I said to him, 'we're not going to play you in 2012', he'd make sure that wasn't the case. But we're not at the stage we were at two years ago where we didn't have a midfield and Cunnington and Bastinac had to play. We're not there, but I sense he'll have something to say about that.

Regarding claims North’s midfield ‘lacks pace and polish’

"We've had to completely rebuild a midfield. We've had to do it that way.

"When I started, we had Andrew Swallow, a 22-year-old, with a group of teenagers around him. So my response to that is, I don't think it's unfair criticism. Based on what I've seen as well, I think it's fair. But what I'm focused on is, they're not poor kicks; they don't lack composure; they don't lack skill; they can run.

"We'll add Atley and Harper in there as well this year. So in terms of polish and class, I think our midfield stacks up pretty well. The pressure the opposition puts on you when you're an inexperienced midfield can exacerbate things and make things look a certain way. But as a nucleus, Cunnington, Bastinac, Ziebell, Swallow, Garlett ... they're coming together well. Once they start to feel like they can physically compete, they'll start to look classier, start to look more at home. I have no concerns about that."

Lachlan Hansen

"Lachie could be a very, very good AFL player because he can do things others can't do.

"But he needs to work on his intent, his aggression, his intensity, and the important thing for Lachie is that we now have more key-position players on our list than pretty much anyone. His spot in the side is far from guaranteed.

"You get to a point with players where you support them and coach them as much as you can. You give everything a chance to play out, and it's the same with [Hamish] McIntosh and [Todd] Goldstein. We'll try them together and if it works, it works; and if it doesn't, it doesn't.

"I see Lachie in that category. I rate the things he can do highly, I rate them in the elite category, but if he doesn't bring the fundamental, necessary attributes of a competitive, brutal AFL footballer, then it doesn't matter about the other stuff. The players love him. They love him in defence and they love him in the back line. So he'll either do it or he won't."

Expectations in 2012

"You could go to Champion Data and, based on age, experience, number-crunching and history, they'll say 'you can't win it'. People say 'ninth; ninth, you'll finish in the top eight if you improve', whereas [Champion Data] would probably look at it and say, 'we don't see it that way'. They'd probably say that we shouldn't be where we are and they'll rate us 15th-most experienced because of what the numbers say.

"But I'll stack my Jack Ziebell, Ryan Bastinac and Ben Cunnington against players who have played more than 50 games and feel confident. As a coach, you know your players and you know what they can do. So that's what you believe in. I know what we're capable of here.”