With Jed Anderson to miss up to eight weeks following ankle surgery, North Melbourne coach David Noble has been tasked with finding a solution to cover the loss against Adelaide on Sunday.

An optimist, Noble says the absence of a senior figure will give young players more exposure.

“I look at the opportunity we’ve had for (Tom) Powell, (Will) Phillips and (Charlie) Lazzaro to come into the team [and] more [chances] to give Jaidyn (Stephenson) time in the midfield,” Noble told North Media.

“The capacity for Tom Powell or Will Phillips to be able to go to (Rory) Sloane or (Rory) Laird … each time we have a new opponent that brings new challenges and we’ll take those challenges on.

“I’d love to have those [injured] guys back, don’t get me wrong … [but] I’m an optimist.”

Despite the tough start to the season, Noble says there are still plenty of positives.

“We thought our contest around the stoppages was really good early [against the Bulldogs] … some of our defence early was really good … there were some reasonable spots,” he said.

“We want to have a level of intensity and method in our game we can rely on every week … we know the direction we want to take.

“One of the aspects we looked at is not getting flattened when things go against us … I think the Larkey turnaround seemed to have a bit of an impact on our young team.

“We can’t just be conditional to having things go our way all the time, you’re in a battle … we’ve got to dig in at times like that.”

Noble also launched a staunch defence of his skipper.

Although Jack Ziebell collected a game-high 33 disposals at 93 percent efficiency, while also completing 8 intercepts as part of a defence that was under siege, some have criticised his efforts.

“It’s white noise, I don’t take any notice of that, Jack knows where he’s at,” Noble said.

“I thought he did a great job and led us strongly as a captain under difficult circumstances.

“I have no issues with how Jack played at all.”