WITH six years in the AFL system under his belt, North Melbourne hard nut Michael Firrito is obviously well versed in what he can and can't say in media interviews.

In the lead up to this week's first-round grudge match with bitter rivals Essendon, he had all the usual bases covered: “yes, the team is in great shape, all the boys are raring to go and there's no reason the side can't go even further than they did last year.”

But the topic of conversation that had him most animated was his summer switch from the No.24 he carried in his first 82 AFL games to the No.11 worn so famously by the great Glenn Archer in 311 games.

Although his sincerity was obvious, that media training kicked in again when he talked up how honoured he was to wear arguably the most revered number in North Melbourne history.

But what really had him going was the fact that there will be a heap of kids wearing his number on their backs this season, something he has rarely seen over what has otherwise been an impressive career.

“The only 24s around were Craig Sholl's kids I think, but I might have a few kids wearing the No.11 this year,” Firrito said with a laugh.

“I'll just have to make sure I don't do anything to make them all change their numbers so I can keep a few of them!”

While the No.8 of Daniel Wells and the 29 belonging to Brent Harvey might be more popular among younger fans, there's no doubting that Firrito's hard-nosed approach to his footy has won the admiration of the older generation of the Roos faithful.

Ask any ex-player or old-time North fan about who they love to watch, and you'll invariably hear Firrito's name mentioned first. The ever humble Firrito admits to being slightly embarrassed by the attention he has received from these supporters in the past, but it's something to which he's becoming more accustomed.

“I do have a lot of older supporters coming up to me who tell me they like the way I play,” Firrito says.

“Maybe they think I have an old fashioned way of going about it or I remind them of how the older North players used to play.

“It's a bit of an honour to hear that from some people who have been following the game for a long time, that they respect how I go about it.”

If hearing that sort of praise isn't enough to give him confidence that he can do his job from week to week, Firrito says he can always fall back on the mates he has played alongside in the Roos' backline for the past couple of seasons.

He reckons he is beginning to form a good understanding with Daniel Pratt, Shannon Watt and Josh Gibson after playing about 20 or 30 games with them, but he welcomes the thought of having Drew Petrie in the defensive half on a more regular basis after the big man rotated through the key forward and defensive posts for most of 2007.

“With Thommo [Nathan Thompson] coming back into the side it looks like Drew might be used a lot more in defence compared with last season,” he said.

“I think he knows he can be played anywhere depending on the match ups and we have to be prepared for that. I know that we love having him play there but whatever is best for the club we're happy to run with that.”

As far as this week's season opener is concerned, Firrito is hopeful that a capacity crowd will turn out to the Dome to see the Roos take on Essendon on Easter Monday and that the Roos fans can outnumber their red and black counterparts.

“They (Essendon) obviously have a huge supporter base and have had a good pre-season but we think we're travelling pretty well too,” he said.

“We were pretty good for most of the year last year and with all the positives around the club since James (Brayshaw) and the board came in, you'd like to think our supporters will be out in force for what should be a ripping game of footy.”