BEN BROWN remains in doubt for North Melbourne's clash against Hawthorn on Saturday and will be given up to the last second to prove his fitness, but Scott Thompson is a "likely" starter against the reigning premier.
Brown injured his left knee in North's loss to the Western Bulldogs last Saturday and sat out most of the last three quarters, while Thompson came from the ground with groin soreness midway through the final term.
North coach Brad Scott told reporters on Wednesday he was hopeful Brown would prove his fitness for the meeting with the Hawks.
"He's progressing along OK. We're still unable to confirm whether he'll be able to play or not, but we're hopeful," Scott said of Brown.
"He's just got to prove he can function. It's not serious enough to rule him out so we'll give him right up the last second to make that call.
"Scotty's pretty good. He's likely to get up, but he won't have to do too much today.
"We'll make sure we test him Friday and see how he is."
Brown and Thompson worked away from North's main group at the start of training on Wednesday, the key forward running and walking laps of Arden St Oval while Thompson did stationary skills drills.
Scott said North hadn't worked out what line forward line structure they would take into Saturday's game if Brown didn't play, but could opt for a smaller line-up instead of bringing in a like-for-like replacement such as veteran tall Lachlan Hansen.
Hawthorn vice-captain Jordan Lewis seemed to set the scene for another fiery clash between the sides when he said on Tuesday that North's combative approach in round 13 had not worked – the Hawks won by nine points – and added the reigning premier would be ready for whatever the Roos threw at them.
Scott denied there was any extra feeling in North-Hawthorn clashes, saying the Roos had "nothing but admiration for Hawthorn".
But the North coach noted Alastair Clarkson's team was "the benchmark" for confrontational football, and said his side would try to match the Hawks' aggression this round.
"The important thing is we've got our mind in the right place, and that is to be really aggressive at the contest and take that confrontational attitude into the game," Scott said.
"But we also conceded too many free kicks last time. We conceded, I think, four of their first five goals through free kicks.
"So we'd like to avoid that and still have a confrontational approach."
Ben Jacobs (foot), Sam Wright (ankle) and Luke McDonald (hamstring) are poised to return from long-term injuries this weekend if they prove their fitness at training.
But Scott strongly suggested none of the trio would come straight back into North's senior team.
"It's just a matter of some of our guys probably being available for the VFL this week, and we'll stagger their inclusion back into senior availability," Scott said.
"But it's really good news that we've got probably three, four or five guys who are pretty close to returning."
