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NORTH Melbourne coach Rhyce Shaw is preparing for a tough challenge to pick his round one side after the return of several stars and bright performances from some fringe members.

Shaw's Kangaroos outlasted Sydney by 11 points at Hobart's Kingston Twin Ovals on Monday but more important was that captain Jack Ziebell, Jared Polec and Ben Cunnington were all back.

They played limited minutes in the club's Marsh Community Series finale, with Robbie Tarrant, Aaron Hall and recruit Aiden Bonar also getting valuable time after respective injuries. 

"They've obviously played a fair bit of footy over their time, and (being) Jack's first game, we didn't want to over-burden him with a full game, so we get a half into him," Shaw told reporters.

"He looked good (and) felt good … 'Cunners' has had a big pre-season, so we didn't take any risk with him and made sure we put him on ice and got him ready for round one."

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Shaw remains hopeful he will have spearhead Ben Brown's services in the season-opener against St Kilda despite a calf injury keeping him sidelined.

Brown, who will undergo an MRI scan on Tuesday, told Fox Footy at half-time of Monday's match that he, too, was aiming for round one but "the reality is that it could be round two or three".

That leaves all sorts of possibilities for North's forward structure if Brown is absent, including naming Tristan Xerri for his AFL debut, swinging Majak Daw into attack, or playing Ziebell as a stay-at-home forward.

Two players who have placed themselves in Shaw's selection thoughts are rapidly improving teenager Curtis Taylor and former Sun Hall, who returned from back spasms.

"Since Christmas, (Taylor)'s really put his head down and worked hard," the coach said.

"He knows there will be positional challenges there for him, so he has to make sure he makes every post a winner – and he did that today.

"His last two games have been pretty good but I thought today he got a bit of reward for his work-rate and I suppose he's put his hand up for round one as well."

Swans coach John Longmire was less pleased with his players' effort, saying they had to maintain their intensity for longer.

They also have some selection headaches ahead of round one, particularly with mature recruit Lewis Taylor's excellent performance against the Roos.

"He's a smart player," Longmire said of Taylor.

"He's played a bit of senior footy – you can see that. We got him for his experience, (because) we've got a few younger boys … his game was pretty strong tonight."

Longmire listed fellow newcomers Sam Gray, Kaiden Brand and Dylan Stephens – the No.5 pick in last year's NAB AFL Draft – as others in contention.

Isaac Heeney (thumb) made a successful return but played restricted minutes, along with ruckman Sam Naismith and young key-position player Tom McCartin.

Longmire elected not to comment on Will Hayward's report from a first-quarter bump on North Melbourne's Curtis Taylor.