NORTH Melbourne caretaker Darren Crocker acknowledges he has taken over the Roos' coaching reins with the club's season on "a knife's edge".

North slumped to 4-5 and 13th on the ladder with its shattering loss to Collingwood last Sunday and then announced on Monday it would be without senior coach Brad Scott (back surgery) for about four weeks.

Crocker will coach the Roos in Scott's absence, when they will face West Coast (Blundstone Arena), Sydney Swans (Etihad Stadium) and Greater Western Sydney (Spotless Stadium) ahead of their round 13 bye.

Each of these teams sits inside the top five on the ladder after nine rounds, but Crocker is confident North can challenge them if it produces its best football.

"It is season-defining; our season is on a knife's edge and we need to resurrect it, but we're really confident that our best football can hold up against the best," he said.

"If we can get back to that and maintain our basics really well and follow instructions we believe that we're going to be more than competitive in the next month."

Crocker said North expects to regain captain Andrew Swallow for Sunday's crucial clash against West Coast and could regain star midfielder Nick Dal Santo before its round 13 bye.

Swallow has missed the past two rounds with a broken thumb, but Crocker told reporters on Thursday he should play against the Eagles provided he got through North's main training session and felt comfortable with his ball-handling.

Crocker said Dal Santo, who has been sidelined since round two after undergoing hamstring surgery, had been cleared by his surgeon to step up his training and would do some of the main session on Thursday.

The caretaker rated Dal Santo "a sneaky chance" to play against the Sydney Swans next Saturday night, but failing that said the club was hopeful he would return the following round against Greater Western Sydney. 

After North let a 39-point half-time lead slip against Collingwood, Scott vowed that selection changes would be made this round.

Crocker said Scott had been involved with selection this week, with the caretaker confirming that "some guys who have played regular senior football" would be dropped.

The Roos have been roundly criticised this week for their reluctance under Scott to drop big-name players, but Crocker said the match committee had been restricted this year by injuries.

"It's easy to say drop this guy and drop that guy, but when you've got Daniel Wells, Andrew Swallow and Nick Dal Santo out of the team, it's pretty hard to throw the baby out with the bathwater and go dropping guys when you haven't got a lot of guys stepping up to take their position," he said.

"We just hope that now we're getting a few players back from injury … we can get some pressure from underneath that we can start making some of those calls."

Crocker said there would be no change to North's game style under his leadership, with his focus simply on tightening up parts of the Roos' play that had let them down this year.

After "a robust review" of the Collingwood loss, Crocker said his No.1 priority this week had been tightening a Roos' defence that allowed the Pies to kick 9.2 from 13 inside 50s in the third quarter. 

Crocker ruled out applying for the vacant Carlton coaching role, saying he was "happy doing what I'm doing".