FIGURING out how to counter Carlton's land-of-the-giants forward line is dominating discussion at North Melbourne's selection table.
The Kangaroos have a lack of obvious key defensive options to bring in to support Robbie Tarrant and Scott Thompson.
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Ed Vickers-Willis (knee) is out for the season, Majak Daw's (hips/pelvis) return date is still unclear and Ben McKay (pneumonia) is touch and go for a potential match-up with his twin brother Harry.
McKay, who played in the senior side for the first three weeks, missed the past fortnight in the VFL and injured a toe the week before that, so is short on match practice.
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Sam Durdin (finger) will play his first match for the year in the VFL on Sunday, but coach Brad Scott said it was "too early" for him to be in senior contention.
The one respite for North is that Mitch McGovern (hamstring) looks set to miss the clubs' clash, but Charlie Curnow (knee) is the perfect replacement, to join McKay and Levi Casboult in attack.
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"We're going to have to have a really close look at that. All of a sudden they look really potent up forward," Scott told reports on Thursday.
"There's been a lot of talk for a number of years about Carlton's ability to kick a big score and now they look like they're dangerous on a lot of fronts.
"Not just through the midfield, but with their tall targets, so I think the McKay brothers would be a salivating match-up.
"But having been through that myself (playing against Chris); I'm not sure if I'm keen to put Ben through the misery of playing on his twin brother. That's why I moved clubs, so I didn't have to do it."
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Scott confirmed McKay was "a chance" to return, purely because of the threat the Blues pose up forward, but the alternative is to turn to the medium-sized options already in the line-up.
The club's best small lockdown defender Marley Williams (ankle) will be included in the Kangas' extended squad and that will free up Luke McDonald, assuming he recovers from his knee issue.
McDonald (189cm), Jamie Macmillan (188cm) and ex-Power recruit Jasper Pittard (186cm) are among the options to play as the third tall.
"They're all about that sort of 190cm, hybrid defender and they're all pretty capable in the air," Scott said.
"They're the things we're weighing up. Whether we go like-for-like, or whether we go for a bit more run."
The coach also hinted wingman Jared Polec, who had scans on a quad problem this week, should be fine to face Carlton.
As for the negativity that is shrouding the Roos' 1-5 start, Scott said it was important the external pressure didn't creep inside Arden St.
"That's always a challenge in any football team – probably any sporting environment – when you're in a competition where there's only one winner at the end of the year," he said.
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"The AFL competition at the moment is really tight and the results can swing all over the place … so the challenge is to focus on what's really important, and even before that you've got to be able to identify what that is, then put a plan in place.
"This industry's a great industry because it's unbelievably popular and people love it and there's passion and scrutiny and media coverage, which are all great things.
"But how you handle it is up to you, so we've done a fair bit of work on that, so hopefully our coaches can lead from the front."
