There’s been endless talk of North’s depth and while veteran Drew Petrie rates the current squad as the best he’s ever seen at Arden Street, he’s not about to get too carried away on the eve of the club’s opening match against the Crows.

"We’ve had six years under Brad to think about his game plan, get a lot more games into players and the side hasn’t changed much at all," Petrie told The Herald Sun.

"We’ve brought in some quality players in the last three seasons, and that’s potential… but what happens next, we will measure that in Round 23."

The leader of a jam packed tall forward brigade that includes Majak Daw, Jarrad Waite, Mason Wood, Aaron Black and Ben Brown, Petrie says the pressure is on to hit the scoreboard and justify the hype.

"It is nice to have some options there, but all of us are realistic that we are yet to prove ourselves as a forward line."

After 14 years in the system, the 32-year-old will be surrounded by unprecedented firepower with ex-Blue Waite in the royal blue and white stripes.

"He has kicked a lot of goals on us," Petrie said.

“It’s his marking ability, and his speed off the mark with his leading.

"He has got a long reach, he is hard to match up on and I know our defenders always said they found it hard to play on Jarrad Waite."

At ground level, small forwards like Brent Harvey, Lindsay Thomas, Shaun Higgins, Leigh Adams, Kayne Turner and Robbie Nahas will be ready to crumb making it a star-studded end of the ground whichever way the match committee elects to go week to week.

The biggest challenge according to Petrie has been developing a way to all work inside the same 50m arc.

"Together it all started really well, the synergy was really good," Petrie said.

"Then you probably get in each other’s way a couple of times at training, and it requires a bit of conversation.

"To try and get us all to work together it did require a bit of time on the park and the three NAB Challenge games have allowed us to practice that a bit.

"We have a real mentality that the forward line kicks the goals and not the individual, and that is the approach we have taken through the simmer," he said.

"That’s the best way we can operate, and that’s the mentality.

"You may lead the goalkicking at the end of the season, but it (most importantly) is about us finishing, hopefully, in the top-four to give us a tilt at a Grand Final."