If there’s one North Melbourne footballer you’d pick to put his body on the line for his team-mates it’d be Leigh Adams; but this season ‘Patch’ is playing smarter with less of a 'Kamikaze' approach.

Recovering from shoulder surgery, his preparation for the 2013 season was far from ideal. Six rounds in, Adams looks to be finding his feet

“Obviously your game does change a little bit with the operations I’ve had, so I’m just figuring out what my limitations are and playing to my strengths,” he told NMFC.com.au.

As a player who prides himself on his fearless approach, the idea of limitations can be confronting but the 25-year-old realises he’s far more valuable to Brad Scott on the field than watching on from the sidelines.

“Lunging and diving are probably things I can’t be doing now with my shoulders until I get that strength back.

“I’ve been a lot more careful about what I’m doing out on the ground now and if it’s an unrealistic tackle or something like that, I’ll just look to play a little bit smarter next time.”

But it won’t be forever and Adams is already looking forward to getting back into the gym.  

“I’m at a strength now where I can play at a reasonable level, but to get back and play my old way it’s probably going to be another pre-season of full weights,” he said.

“I’ve probably only done three or four months of proper weights now, so I’ll probably need to get a good six months of solid weights into it and by this time next year I should be back to normal."

Having missed much of the pre-season, Adams admits he was a little underdone going into Round 1.

“I was playing a little bit of catch-up from the fitness point of view and then not being able to do many of the contested drills,” he said of his pre-season campaign.

“I’m one of the blokes that needs to get a bit of running under my belt to get my fitness up. It was sort of like a slow build-up, but I feel like each week I’ve taken a little step forward.”

The emergence of North’s midfield group has allowed the number 13 more time in attack and it’s a role he’s lapping up.

“I’m playing a little more as a permanent forward this year. When you’ve got really good midfielders of the quality of the guys we’ve got coming through, you’ve just got to play your role and mine is as a forward this year. I’m really enjoying playing that role.”

With that in mind, the return of veteran Brent Harvey into the forward six will be a welcome one for Adams.

“It’s huge. He (Harvey) gets that number one small defender. It allows other blokes down the pecking order to get off the chain a little bit. He’s just huge, his run and carry, and his leadership out there.”

The Bulldogs’ clash looms as a danger game for North, especially with the inclusions of Daniel Giansiracusa, Robert Murphy and Ryan Griffen.

“It’s the nucleus of their preliminary final days pretty much coming back in,” Adams added.

“You can’t take Murphy and Giansiracusa forward of the footy. If they get the ball in their hands too often they are going to be pretty damaging.

“Last year we took them maybe a little bit lightly and they gave us a good touch-up.

“They are in the top three or five for clearances and contested ball, and they are probably the two main stats in footy these days, so we’re going to have to bring a fierce contest to beat them.”