North Melbourne skipper Andrew Swallow says the club is eager to finish in the top half of the final eight to give itself the best chance of September success.

Speaking to the media at the AFL Season Launch, Swallow said securing a top four spot in 2016 is vital.

“That’d be the aim, to work ourselves up the ladder,” Swallow said on Thursday.

“We’ve shown we can win finals, but to travel two weeks in a row [in finals] and go and win can be really tough. We’d love to play a home final, it’s a long way to get there, but hopefully a good start will help with that.”

With the club unable to claim the points in Round 1 in recent times, Swallow said he and his teammates were eager to atone for last season’s “touch up” at the hands of the Crows.

But the 28-year-old said the Roos weren’t going to overestimate the importance of the season opener.

“Although everyone gets excited about round one, it’s a long year. If you do lose… then next week you back up and perform and win that, then you’re probably on the same ledger as half the league.

“It’s [early wins] probably something in the last couple of years we’ve really lacked but have come home really well in the back half of the year. To give ourselves a great opportunity to consolidate some early wins, definitely makes it easier.

“We’d love to get a win, Adelaide pumped us over there last year, so a bit of revenge.”

The Etihad Stadium clash on Easter Saturday will also see the interchange cap in place for the first time and Swallow said he expected it to impact the speed of games.

“It will just change the way in the second half teams play. I think it will slow it down,” the North captain said of the limited 90 rotations.

“It might open it up, but I think you’ll find teams try to retain the ball and chip it around a bit more. It’s going to be hard for guys to go at that pace for the whole game.”

While the cap may force some clubs to rethink their ruck strategy, Swallow said teammate and All-Australian Todd Goldstein wasn’t worried about having to play extra game time.

“He’s fit and healthy. The great thing is he has such great endurance for a big bloke. He seems to get better as the game goes on.”