North Melbourne captain Andrew Swallow is set to make his return within the next fortnight.

Swallow is making great progress on the training track with a comeback via the VFL slated in ‘only a week or two’.

“He ran at top speed today and he wants to be named as emergency as a possible late replacement this week, but we’re not doing that,” Scott joked on Thursday.

“He’s close. We are being really conservative with him. We’d love to have him in as soon as possible, but at the same time we are conscious that we’ve got to get him in at 100 per cent with a lot of training behind him.”

Swallow injured his achilles in Round 18 last year and has not played since.

"He's done a lot of training, but he's going to play at VFL level, regardless of what the temptation is for the match committee to bring him back in," Scott added.

A return via North Ballarat is sure to draw a crowd to catch the three-time Syd Barker Medalist in action.