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Variety around stoppages will be key to North’s chances against Sydney, Todd Goldstein says.

The battle of the midfields is sure to be intriguing on Friday night, with first use from Goldstein and the Swans’ Mike Pyke vital.  

Despite the Kangaroos’ dominance in the ruck against the Cats, the opposition’s ability to shark the clearance distilled any advantage.

“It is one of those things — when we are all on the same page and mixing it up, we are a very dangerous side,” Goldstein told The Herald Sun’s Glenn McFarlane.

“But it does require the ruckman and the middies to work together.

“Sydney is a very good contested side and so are we. They have a very good midfield and so do we. I think we both have a lot of similarities in our teams and make-up.”

Assistant coach Leigh Tudor’s intimate knowledge of the Swans’ on-ball brigade is sure to come in handy at ANZ Stadium.

“Pyke is a good ruckman, and he will have (Sam) Reid and (Kurt) Tippett who can help out,” Tudor said.

“And their midfield is very good at reading the play and Todd is going to need to be at his best to deal with that.”

While Goldstein is the more seasoned ruckman, Pyke has some unique traits.  

“He is definitely a strong ruckman and he has very good hands.

“He moves around the ground well and I know I am going to have to work hard as I will have my work cut out," he added.

Hitting his best form at the right time of the season, Goldstein says it’s an exciting time at Arden Street.

“We always knew we had a good group here and we’ve always been looking to bring in players like Nick Dal Santo to keep building the list.

“We always felt like we were building. The performance over the past couple of years has been a bit up and down, but we had confidence that we were headed in the right direction and we felt like we had the game plan that would take us where we wanted to go.”