NORTH Melbourne coach Brad Scott is hopeful he can see a full season out of Jarrad Waite after the forward starred with five goals in his side's 38-point loss to Greater Western Sydney on Friday night.
Waite was the Kangaroos' only tall option to have any success against the Giants in their final JLT Community Series clash at UNSW Canberra Oval in Canberra, finishing with 10 marks for the night.
The 34-year-old started the 2016 season in stunning fashion until he was struck down by a mid-season hip injury, so while Scott wasn't getting carried away by Waite's performance, he had no issue singing his praises.
"The thing with 'Waitey' is that he's got to be physically right to go," he said.
"Obviously he was very sore and hurt his hip in the middle of last year which really knocked him around and we missed him for a large chunk as well.
"When he's fit he's an elite player, not just in terms of hitting the scoreboard, but he's got speed, he's got endurance and great hands, that were on show tonight.
"He can defend as well so he's a really complete forward when he's right to go, so we've always had great confidence in him when he's fit, we've just got to make sure we keep him fit."
Scott's other big man options inside 50 had little impact on the game, with Majak Daw and Braydon Preuss virtually unsighted, and number one ruckman Todd Goldstein also ineffective when resting forward.
Last year's leading goalkicker Ben Brown will play in the VFL this week after having his pre-season interrupted by knee issues, and Scott said while it was tempting to pick him against GWS, North decided to take the conservative option.
"We wanted to get another solid week of training into him," he said.
"But we also wanted to continue on with big 'Pruessy' and Majak and 'Goldy', so while today we were tinkering with a few things it gave us a bit more information.
"There are a lot of those guys who are going to be vying for similar spots, and we've just got to work out the best structure.
"We think we've got the information we need now after three games and a couple of intraclubs."
