North Melbourne captain Andrew Swallow says he’s made the most of his time on the track this pre-season, in a welcome change from the achilles injury that delayed his start last year.

Swallow said he had taken part in nearly every session in the lead-up to the 2015 season and is ready to take on the Crows in enemy territory on Sunday.

“Last year I didn’t start running until pretty much the end of January, so I missed a fair chunk,” he told the West Australian’s Shayne Hope.

“The body feels good now. At training during the skills (drills) and that I’m feeling good and motoring around.

“I’m just looking forward to getting out there and having a good year.”

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The 27-year-old said he had been buoyed by the return of fellow AFL players who had suffered achilles injuries.

“Looking at the way guys have done it before, like Jarryd Roughead, I think his second year back from his achilles he was outstanding and won a Coleman Medal; if I could get back into some form like he was I’d be pretty happy.”

Swallow said he and his teammates had been pleased with three solid hit-outs in the NAB Challenge, but the playing group still hadn’t forgotten the pain of last year's Preliminary Final loss to Sydney.

“We use that game as a bit of a measure of the work that we need to continually do,” Swallow said.

“We got some great confidence coming from the two finals that we did win, but we know that we’ve got a bit of work to do.”

North has spent time analysing the loss in order to find that extra level of improvement.

“We’ve reviewed it pretty closely in the pre-season and Sydney were outstanding on that day," Swallow added.

"Their work rate, their ability to get back and support their defence, but then to isolate their key forwards, was outstanding.

“We’ve learnt a lot from that and the only thing I think we can do now is get out there and try and play.”