BY THURSDAY North Melbourne's list management committee will sign off on the players it will target in this weekend's NAB AFL Draft, with those preparations avoiding the what-if scenarios of other clubs.

Opening its selections at number nine, North – like Richmond and Adelaide either side of it – faces the possibility of a highly-touted youngster slipping from the upper rungs to be available when its turn comes.

That obviously won't be seen until Saturday, but talent manager Cameron Joyce suggests the club will be pleased with whoever it lands.

"There's no doubt we think we'll get a good player at nine, but who that player will be is probably still a little bit up in the air with a couple of clubs still maybe a little bit unsure about what they're going to do," he said.

"We just need to make sure we've got our order in place and then, whatever scenarios get thrown up on the day, we've got an order to stick to and we'll pick the best player from there.

"Bryce Lewis, our talent ID manager, has done a fantastic job this year with pulling it all together and he's given the club a fantastic opportunity to pick the best available talent on Saturday.

"He's watched all the kids for a couple of years now. His preparation is just going to give the footy club a really good chance of getting some high-quality talent into the place."

While he wouldn't commit to the club's interest in Victorian utility Steele Sidebottom or South Australian forward Lewis Johnston, Joyce said that the first selection – and those to come after him at 27, 43, 59 and 71 – would continue a medium-term draft plan that commenced in 2006.

"I think one of the things when I came into the role midway through this year was that obviously the two drafts with (Lachlan) Hansen, (Gavin) Urquhart, (Lindsay) Thomas, (Todd) Goldstein, (Matt) Campbell and then last year with Robbie (Tarrant), Levi (Greenwood), Scotty Thompson and Josh Smith that have played some senior footy, that we really wanted to make sure that we could have three to four good drafts in a row.

"Still a lot of water's got to go under the bridge with all those boys, but if we can get three to four really good drafts with holding our first-round selection, that'll give us a good chance to really challenge in the next few years."

Key position player Tarrant and defender Greenwood, hampered by injuries in part, are yet to debut and Joyce acknowledged that North would carry the consideration of their looming availability into the draft.

He also expects the club to use each of its five selections rather than hold one over for the pre-season draft on December 16 – something it has done for the last four years.

"We've had a look at what might be around in the pre-season draft but I think it's in our best interests to make the five selections, get the boys into the club as soon as possible and make them feel accustomed straight away."