MAJAK Daw is "very, very close" to earning a senior recall, with North Melbourne coach Brad Scott confident the 27-year-old is developing into a defender who will demand a spot in the Roos' best 22, regardless of team balance.

After spending his first eight seasons at Arden St alternating between the ruck and attack, Daw trained with North's backline group over the 2018 pre-season, with the Roos believing a shift to defence was his best chance of finally cementing a regular senior position.

Daw struggled in his first game as a defender in the Kangaroos' opening JLT Community Series game against Melbourne and has since been overlooked for the senior team. 

But Scott told reporters on Wednesday Daw had put his hand up for a recall with an outstanding performance in a VFL practice match against Collingwood last Saturday night.  

"He probably had his best game for North Melbourne in any position, whether it be VFL or AFL level, on the weekend," Scott said.

"He's very, very close (to senior selection), but we've got to continue to pick the side that we think provides the best balance.

"We want to get Maj to the point where regardless of balance, whether we go tall or small – because he is a great athlete and has great speed – he should play.

"We're pretty close to that point to be honest. Whether it's this week (against Melbourne) or in the next few, we'll wait and see, but (he's shown) really promising signs so far." 

After the Melbourne JLT game, Scott identified Daw's ability to defend in one-on-one contests as his biggest area for improvement.

The Roos coach said Daw had since made significant inroads on that aspect of his game. 

"He did it really well on the weekend, but he's about four games into (playing) a key defensive post, so he's still got a lot to learn and will continue to have a lot to learn once he comes in to play AFL footy too," Scott said.

"In fact, it was the JLT game against Melbourne where he learnt a lot playing on Jesse Hogan and Christian Petracca as well.

"He's infinitely better than he was in that game, but still some things to learn." 

Meanwhile, Scott was confident star midfielder Ben Cunnington would be fit to take on Melbourne at the MCG this Saturday.

Cunnington came off the ground with a hip complaint during the third quarter of North's win over St Kilda on Good Friday. He spent much of that term off the ground but returned in the last quarter, when he was stationed primarily in the Roos' forward line and kicked a goal.

"We were very, very cautious in terms of his return to play, but I think whenever a player returns and finishes out the game strongly it's always a good pointer to the next week," Scott said.  

"We had eight days to recover from that game too, so that's going to help him."