SEVEN-GOAL hero Corey Jones was nearly ruled out of playing in Sunday's win over Richmond at the MCG.

Jones, knocked out in the opening minutes of Monday's opening round loss to Essendon, booted four goals in the first term to set up a comfortable 20.7 (127) to 13.8 (86) victory over the Tigers.

But coach Dean Laidley said afterwards that as late as Friday he had toyed with the idea of not including him.

"It was a fantastic effort because he did have concussion (and) he wasn't going to train on (Friday)," Laidley said.

"I said if you don't train today and you don't show me that you're ready to go I'm not playing you.

"But he trained very, very well and straight after training I said, 'Okay, you're right'.

"I thought his performance today carried on from that, which is again the sign of a great leader."

The versatile Jones' combination of height and pace proved a tough match for the Tigers, who started with Andrew Raines on him, quickly swapped him for Jake King, then by the end of the first term resorted to Kelvin Moore.

Moore restricted Jones to three goals after quarter-time, but by that time Richmond were already 27 points down and never really recovered.

Jones, who missed the last two matches of North's finals campaign with a foot injury last season, said it had been important for the team to bounce back after a poor fadeout against the Bombers.

He said Laidley put the heat on several players during the week, although his own knowledge of Monday's match was limited.

"The best part about last week is I actually can't remember it and I didn't go back and watch it," he said.

Midfielder Daniel Wells fought back after his poor 10-possession game against the Bombers with a damaging 24-touch performance today.

"After last week, I don't want to harp on it, but I let the club down, let the team down and I got a lot of help from my teammates today and it was a great team effort," Wells said.