DANIEL Wells says it's too early to tell when he might return for North Melbourne following his long-awaited comeback from a lingering Achilles problem in the VFL on Saturday.

In his first appearance since round two, the classy midfielder collected 14 disposals in just over a quarter of game time to help North Ballarat to a come-from-behind eight-point triumph over Collingwood at Victoria Park.

Ryan Bastinac starred for the Roosters with 43 touches, while Magpies onballer Brent Macaffer (15) got through unscathed in his return from his second knee reconstruction.

Wells sat out the first half but lit up the third term with 11 disposals, showing his customary dash through the centre and class with ball in hand.

He sent a scare through the camp when he limped off after feeling a pinch in his knee when he was tackled in the fourth quarter, but returned to the action late in the term.

Most importantly, the 30-year-old got through without further damage to his left Achilles, although he battled some pain getting back on the field a week earlier than he expected.

"The fitness is obviously going to be very tough, but the Achilles wasn't too bad," Wells said.

"Probably the longer it went on the better it was. I was a bit nervous and anxious about it, but I was just happy that it actually felt all right.

"The knee's a bit of a bummer, but I don't think it's that bad at all. I was more worried about the Achilles and I felt like I was able to use some speed out there.

"The fitness is probably the thing that we'll keep working on."

Wells said his biggest concern now would be how his Achilles pulled up.

"I've done a couple of full sessions the last couple of weeks and then it got a bit grumpy, so I've had to pull back. It's really every two or three days we assess it," he said.

"The most interesting thing that's going to happen out of this is how it's going to pull up the next couple of days.

"I trained last week and it pulled up all right, I trained this week and it pulled up all right.

"So hopefully it's moving in the right direction."

There was more positive news for the Kangaroos apart from Wells and Bastinac, with Trent Dumont (35 disposals), Brad McKenzie (29) and Aaron Mullett (27) racking up big numbers.

The Magpies' hierarchy would be buoyed by the performances of Matt Scharenberg (21 disposals, two goals), Ben Kennedy (27 disposals, two goals) and Patrick Karnezis (28 disposals, six clearances).

Macaffer (four clearances) was his typical strong self at the contest in his first game since he ruptured his ACL in round 22 last season.

Key forward Jesse White impressed with his attack on the football, finishing with 3.4 from 13 touches.