In his four seasons at Aegis Park, Wright has proved himself a dangerous medium forward and, more recently, a defender capable of shutting down opposition stars like Geelong's Steve Johnson one week and playing attacking rebounder the next.
Wright revealed to AFL.com.au this pre-season is the first time he has completed a full weights program, having overcome the recurring shoulder injuries that ruined his 2011 season.
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Working alongside teammate Leigh Adams in the gym, Wright says he has almost reached his ideal playing weight.
"I've put on 3-4kg this pre-season and am up to 87kg. It's just a matter of trying to increase that slightly," Wright said.
"I've been working hard with Leigh Adams, he's my new weights partner.
"We've obviously both had shoulder injuries, and it's been good being able to push each other but still be careful in what we're doing."
Wright, 22, said he was likely to play predominantly in defence in 2013 as he did last season, but believes his occasional ventures outside North's defensive 50 could take him into the midfield as well as attack.
"I have trained about 50:50 between the midfield group and the defenders this pre-season," Wright said.
"I'm really enjoying playing defence at the minute, but I also enjoy training with the midfielders. But in saying that it's pretty hard to break into the midfield at the minute.
"I just want to try and get all parts of my game as even as I can. So if during a game I'm called to go into the midfield I'm able to play that role.
"It's a matter of getting that midfield time, just training, practising and getting the repetition day in, day out."
Wright has played some games on the wing in the past, but says his focus with the Roos' midfield group this pre-season has been developing his stoppage play.
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Having trained alongside teammates such as skipper Andrew Swallow, Daniel Wells, Jack Ziebell and Ben Cunnington this summer, Wright fully appreciates how deep North's midfield talent now runs.
He's also the first to admit he has work to do before he's ready to be thrown into centre bounces.
"It's not just going to happen, I've got a lot of stepping stones in front of me," Wright said.
"You need a different set of skills in the midfield, whether it's being stronger over the ball or just being able to run out games – it's all a part of it.
"For me personally, it's probably just all the body positioning and body work that I'm not used to.
"But we've got guys in there like Andrew Swallow and Ben Cunnington who've been really good to me, helping me to pick things up."
Wright enters this year's NAB Cup competition the fittest he's ever been.
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He was put on a modified program at the start of the pre-season after developing foot problems in the off-season through overtraining.
However, he resumed full training before Christmas and has not had any injury problems since.
"It's great that the regular season's almost upon us. It's been a long pre-season and the boys are all itching to get back into it," Wright said.
"I'm really looking forward to going down to defence and playing my role. And if I get the opportunity to go into the midfield at some stage it's just a matter of taking that opportunity."
Sam Wright is a defender in NAB AFL Fantasy. He averaged 66.95 points in 2012. Register your team at our AFL Fantasy hub.
Nick Bowen covers North Melbourne news for AFL.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_Nick
