Key-position player Ben McKay will make his debut against Brisbane on Saturday.

Pick 21 in the 2015 National Draft, McKay spent much of his first two seasons in attack, but has played in a key defensive post for Werribee in recent weeks.

North coach Brad Scott announced the news during his weekly media conference on Thursday, saying McKay's flexibility will be vital in the future. 

"We try and train them up as being capable of playing forward or back, and Ben certainly played a mixture of forward and back in his junior career," Scott said. 

"He's a very competitive guy and when you see him, he's 200cm and a big kid already, so he's going to be a player we're going to be able to build a spine around, so we want to be able to do that at both ends. 

"I thought Robbie Tarrant was a centre half-forward for a long time and he's gone back and I think he's an All Australian-standard defender."