LACHLAN Hansen is expected to be available for round one but could be left out of the North Melbourne team that will take on Adelaide this Sunday because of his lack of match conditioning, Roos coach Brad Scott says.

Scott told reporters on Monday that Hansen was finally ready to resume full training after being nursed through the pre-season following surgery on both hips. 

The key defender has not played a pre-season game this year but shapes as a vital player for North while Nathan Grima (back) is sidelined in the early part of this season. 

Hansen would give North much-needed height and experience on Sunday against a Crows forward line that is likely to be stacked with talls Taylor Walker, Josh Jenkins and James Podsiadly.

"He's certainly ready to get into full training so we'll have to make an assessment on how he trains (and) his level of conditioning because it won't be match conditioning," Scott said.

"So we'll have a choice to make there, I suspect. I think he'll be medically cleared to play but that doesn't mean that the coaches tick off that it's in our best interests to play him.

"But the good news for us is he's getting really close to being available."

Scott was tight-lipped about North's likely selections ahead of Sunday's game at the Adelaide Oval. 

Asked whether prized free-agency recruits Jarrad Waite and Shaun Higgins had done enough to earn their club debuts against the Crows, Scott said only: "They'll be in the mix". 

Scott said forward-turned-defender Robbie Tarrant was "ready to play" and gave North another "great option" in defence.

He also sang the praises of one-game forward Mason Wood but stopped short of declaring him a starter for round one. 

"We love the way he plays and he'll certainly make us a better side, so whether that's this week or next week who knows?" Scott said of Wood. 

"But he's going to be an important player for us." 

Scott also praised North's medical and sports science staff for getting the club's list in such a healthy state after players such as Drew Petrie (ankle), Lindsay Thomas (foot), Ben Brown (knee), Aaron Black (shoulder), Majak Daw (dislocated foot) and Robbie Tarrant (tibia) all had slow starts to the pre-season. 

All of those players are available to take on the Crows, with Grima, Aaron Mullett (shoulder) and Leigh Adams (concussion) the only Roos to date who have been ruled out. 

Scott said he had been impressed by Adelaide's NAB Challenge campaign under new coach Phil Walsh, which included a 10-point win over North in Port Lincoln. 

The Roos coach said the Crows' list was "first-class" and suspected they had kept a few tricks up their sleeve ahead of Sunday. 

"History tells you that if you hang your hat on all that you've seen in the NAB Challenge you'll be wrong somewhere along the line," Scott said. 

"There will be some things that we see in round one (from Adelaide) that we haven't seen yet, but that's the same for everyone."

North has played just once before at the Adelaide Oval, losing to the Crows by 36 points in round 13 last year. 

But Scott said North would not alter its interstate travelling routine to have a pre-game training run on the Crows' home ground.