Drew Petrie believes a battle for spots is driving North Melbourne players to be at their best this pre-season.

With new additions to the playing group, including high-profile recruits Jarrad Waite and Shaun Higgins, Petrie said training has heated up over the past month.

“It will be the most competitive team for spots that I would have seen in the past couple of years,” Petrie told Channel 7 on Friday.

“We have created a bit more depth in the past 18 months – that’s where we are going to get the improvement from.”

With the NAB Challenge fast approaching, Petrie said he and his teammates were itching to get the games started.

“It’s one thing to train with each other week-after-week, but we need to take on some opposition to get a good gauge of where we are at.”

While some players have suffered disrupted pre-season campaigns through injury, the bulk of the list is now back on track.

“I think it works both ways though, this will freshen a lot of guys up as well. All those guys are coming good at the right time of the year.”

The players took part in an intense two-and-a-half-hour training session at Arden St on Friday, braving the hot conditions.

“We knew the fortnight we are in now was going to be tough, it just made it a bit tougher that it was 30-odd degrees,” Petrie said.

Midfielder Daniel Wells stood out during match practice, running rampant through the midfield.

“Wellsy’s looking really good. He has had a solid pre-season,” Petrie added.

“Those burst efforts – breaking through the line, taking a couple of bounces – that’s where Wellsy’s going to give us plenty of drive from this year, and we missed that last season when he wasn’t there.”