A WEEKEND off for the Hall of Fame Tribute Match will give a number of North Melbourne players in the VFL a chance to push for senior selection for round eight.

Chief of football Donald McDonald has indicated those on the cusp will be considered for the clash with the West Coast Eagles at Carrara, with the club's coaching staff able to concentrate on North Ballarat and Werribee.

"[The weekend's] probably just a good opportunity to recharge the batteries and maybe focus on the younger guys this week because they're all playing in the VFL," he said. "And some of our experienced players in Jess Sinclair and Eddie Sansbury as well.

"When we look at the list, there's some exciting talent there. Guys like Scotty McMahon and Lachlan Hansen, Ben Ross, Gavin Urquhart, Matty Riggio, all these guys get an opportunity this week to stake their claims for senior selection."

Defender Josh Gibson is expected to play for Werribee after overcoming a knee injury that has sidelined him for four weeks, however, highly-rated youngster Jesse Smith is still touch and go.

The 21-year-old appears to have shaken his troublesome ankle but is now battling general soreness.

"I think Josh should be alright," McDonald said. "We just want to see how Jesse gets through training, how he pulls up, and just go from there.

"Jesse is the one that we'll wait and see how he pulls up probably on Friday and Josh should be right to play at this stage."

It's a very different situation for exciting forward Aaron Edwards, who is recovering from surgery after breaking his leg in the drawn match with Sydney.

"He's had major surgery. He's in the very, very early stages of it all," McDonald said. "As for how many weeks, it's too difficult to put an accurate assessment on it so he's got to keep off it for a while and go from there."

McDonald and the coaching staff have also used the week to reflect on North Melbourne's start to 2008, with the club seventh after seven rounds.

"We've had a good look at it all and reviewed the first seven weeks of the season," he confirmed. "I suppose we're exactly 50 per cent when you include the draw, with 14 points from the available 28 on offer, so we're just going to look at what's worked and what hasn't worked.

"Out of the seven games, you'd have to say that we've been extremely competitive in five of them and two that haven't been very good performances. Essendon and Adelaide had our measure comfortably in the end on the scoreboard, but in the other five games we've been pretty competitive.

"It's just a tight competition and what we've got to do is just recharge the batteries this week, really be nice and positive and get up to the Gold Coast next week and win our battle against West Coast."