North fans can look forward to seeing an even bigger and stronger Ben Brown in 2015, with the forward forced to use much of the pre-season to add bulk to his frame.

The 22-year-old, who played a large part of his debut season with a knee complaint, was placed on a modified training program after post-season surgery to repair a medial ligament.

“(My pre-season) has been mainly about rehabbing that (my knee),” Brown told RSN on Tuesday.

“Any time you go in for surgery or have a setback, I try and look at it as a positive and look at things that you can try to improve.”

Finding that improvement while he's on the sidelines will be crucial if he's to add to his modest games tally and force his way into the team.

While the signings of Jarrad Waite and Shaun Higgins have re-energised the club, they've also created “healthy competition” for spots, according to Brown.

“We’ve got a couple of new faces in at the club that will make it interesting for me to get my spot back, but I’ll be doing absolutely everything I can … to put my name back up there again,” he said.

“Having healthy competition within the team is really important … it’s really positive for the group.

“(They’re also) really putting pressure on the rest of us to keep training hard (and) to keep pushing to hopefully get a premiership.”

After making his debut in round 14 against Melbourne last year, the 200cm forward sprung to life with four second-half goals in the elimination final against Essendon.

Brown said the club will only make some minor adjustments to its game plan this season following its successful 2014 campaign.

“It’s about little tweaks rather than major differences in the way we go about it,” he said.

“The coaches have sat down over the pre-season and they’ve gone over hours of vision and tried to come up with just a few minor tweaks that can help us play better footy.

“It’s still being drip-fed to us over the pre-season and that’s the best way to go about it so guys gradually get to play the way the coaches want us to.”

Brown said he would welcome the opportunity to undertake match simulation training sessions against Geelong, as was the case in early 2013.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if that came around again,” he said.

“You do get that exposure to another team and (seeing) just a few different faces around the club.

“I think (coaches) Brad and Chris have a bit to do with each other, well not too much, but I’m sure they’d put their heads together a little bit – why wouldn’t you if you’ve got that opportunity to?”