Defender Nathan Grima has completed his first pre-season conditioning session and is confident he can play a significant role in North’s 2015 campaign.

The 29-year-old was placed on a ‘maintenance program’ leading up to the Christmas break after suffering a navicular stress fracture in the early stages of last season.

Back at Arden Street, Grima said the club is ramping up his training workload in time for the NAB Challenge.

“(I) had another block of time off and today was probably the first decent running block I’ve done since the last game (the preliminary final),” he told NMFC.com.au on Tuesday.

“It was pretty hard work, but it’s nice to get through it.

“It was always (the plan), once that last game finished, (to) give it another extended time just to be safe.”

Grima’s foot injury saw him miss 11 games in the middle part of the season.

But the number 17 said it was satisfying to return in round 20 and feature in the Roos’ last seven games, including three finals matches.

“It looked like I might’ve even missed the whole year at some stage and the situation I was in, with my age and my contract, I’d do anything to get back and play," he said.

“To play in three finals was awesome and obviously, we didn’t finish the way we’d like to, but to get into a preliminary final was amazing and it set the tone for this pre-season.”

Grima, who has managed 86 games in seven years at Arden Street, signed a one-year contract late last year and was “always confident” he had plenty to offer.

The 192 centimetre backman said there is plenty to look forward to this season and competition for spots would only intensify.

“We’ve picked up two senior players in Jarrad Waite and Shaun Higgins, who have both been probably two of our best on the track,” he added.

“Trent Dumont has slimmed down and… he’s the only bloke on the list that hasn’t played AFL footy, and I think that’ll change pretty quickly.

“If you asked anyone at the minute, they’ll be giving themselves a good chance for round one."