The thought of new blood coming into the North squad via the recent Draft is good news according to Levi Greenwood.

After a tough season in 2012 which resulted in just five AFL matches and a foot injury, the 23-year old is using the new recruits as motivation to take things to a new level.

“We’ve got a lot of good players coming through at the moment,” Greenwood told kangaroos.com.au.

“You look at the midfield and you’ve got Gibbo (Sam Gibson) stepping up, Liam Anthony, Jack (Ziebell), Spitta (Andrew Swallow), Basti (Ryan Bastinac)…all those boys.

“There’s just immense competition for spots which is really good for the footy club. I think it’s going to be a really tough year to hold your spot in the side. It’s just motivation for everyone to work harder and you can’t take your foot off the throttle.

By the time Ben Jacobs, Taylor Garner, Taylor Hine, Daniel Currie, Mason Wood and Mitch Wilkins arrive in Utah, Greenwood will be ready to resume training after a long time on the sidelines.

“I want to do most of the drills…I should be up to it. Providing the foot pulls up well from a run I’ll have tomorrow, I should be right back into it by Wednesday.

“The foot injury that put me out for a few weeks toward the end of last year and after a few scans I was put in for surgery to get it fixed.

“I’ve only just started coming back to full training and hopefully by the end of this week, I’ll be back into it with the boys but it’s been a pretty long recovery because I haven’t been able to do too much on it.”

After a solid block of fitness work, the midfielder says he’s close to being right to train at full tilt.

“I’ve had about four weeks of running now and it’s feeling pretty good. Like any injury after you come back, it’s sore at the start.”

Although he was reluctant, Greenwood touched on the season just gone, but says there’s no point looking back with regrets.

“There are no other options; you can’t really dwell on it. I’ve just got to use that as motivation for next season and get right back up there and get a solid foundation under my belt, get stronger, fitter and faster.

“I’ve got a contract for two more years but I obviously want to have a better year than I did last year. It was probably the worst year I’ve had since being at the club. I just want to get back in there and play regular senior games and give something back.”

The number 24 believe he was close to senior selection on a few occasions, but nothing went this way.

“It’s been a little bit frustrating, mainly last year because I was right in the mix to play senior footy and my body let me down in the end. I was coming off the back of a few good games and thought I might be able to get a look-in but unfortunately this injury came up and these things happen I guess.

“I didn’t feel like I was playing bad footy, I think I just came out of the team at the wrong time…just before we had that winning streak and then they didn’t make too many changes. I was starting to play some good footy in the seconds and it just made it hard. When my opportunity did come up, I wasn’t able to fill the spot because of my foot and it just put me right back so it was frustrating heading towards the end.”

For now, he looks on at his teammates in full training with envy and it’s something that doesn’t quite sit right.

“It’s hard watching them because you know you’re not working as hard as them they’re busting their arses out there. The only thing the rehab-group can do is push-ups and crunches and that so you do feel a little bit guilty when you get to the end of the session.

"You just know that when you get back into that main group you’ve got to work harder to catch up to them.”

One of North’s best runners, Greenwood is keen to join the likes of Sam Gibson, Ryan Bastinac, Kieran Harper and Andrew Swallow sooner rather than later in the time-trials.

“I’m just looking forward to getting the foot right and running with the boys who are up the front of the group.”