North Melbourne's leaders are playing with more enthusiasm in 2010 and according to deputy vice-captain Brady Rawlings, it's all due to the club's influx of youthful, exciting players.

After 201 games and two best and fairest awards, the club veteran says he and other experienced Roos are excited by the prospect of the up and comers at Arden Street.

"For us older guys, it's great watching them go about it out on the ground and it's pretty refreshing to see new faces around," he told kangaroos.com.au on Saturday.

"The midfielders, as they come through together, can push each other. It's great that they are all coming through at the same age and they can play all their footy together."

In a sign of things to come, North Melbourne fielded one of its youngest teams in recent memory in the 40-point win over Hawthorn as a result of opting to rest a raft of senior players including Brent Harvey and Drew Petrie.

Ryan Bastinac and Marcus White were given another opportunity to shine, while rookie Ben Speight looked comfortable in his first game.

"There's some good names that have come in through there. Bastinac has come in this year and Ben Cunnington, when he gets going, he's another who can play inside and out. If they can all play together, they can push each other and get the best out of each other."

Cunnington is yet to play a game after suffering a stress reaction in his foot before Christmas, but after watching him keenly in the under-18 championships last year, Rawlings says he's one of the most promising youngsters he's seen.

"He's pretty impressive on the track. He's the sort of kid who just loves competing and he's a hard young fellow who just loves getting his hands dirty. I'm really looking forward to watching him play.

"Ben's pretty similar to Jack Ziebell. He's big bodied, very hard at it, desperate and he can go forward and take marks and kicks goals. There's not too much he lacks."

North Melbourne will take on Sydney in its second NAB Challenge match this Friday night at Narrandera at 7pm.