There was a time when the hopes of the North Melbourne Football Club relied heavily on the performances of a few. One of those players was Daniel Wells, but not anymore according to Brad Scott.

Over the past few years, the Roos have had to perform without their gun midfielder as he battled an array of injuries. It resulted in the team becoming more of a 'collective', the coach says.

“We’ve constantly tried to take that pressure off all our good players,’’ Scott told the Herald Sun.

“The fact is we’ve really worked hard to become a balanced team.

“We are a good team based on the collective.’’

That's not to say the coach isn't delighted to have Wells back in the fold and in close to career-best form.

“The mental side of game is huge, but it was never Wellsy’s problem,’’ he said.

“If people in the past have labelled him with that then they’re wrong. This has been a physical issue this past two years, nothing to do with mental stuff.

“I’ve heard people say he’s got mental fragility, trust me, they are not people who know.

Scott lauded Wells' ability to play a dynamic brand of football, on the inside and outside.

“Any player, particularly with speed, is categorised as an outside player,’’ Scott said.

“Probably Chris Judd aside, that’s pretty much how those kinds of midfielders have categorised over the years.

“I’ve never thought Wellsy was an outside player. When he’s played he’s almost always played as inside mid.’’

So far this year, Wells has averaged 21 disposals, a career-high 10.7 contested possessions, a career-high 6.3 tackles, and his pressure acts are at a career-high 50.

“It’s easy to say yes now, but I can hand on my heart say we absolutely did think he could get back to his best because the evidence was pretty clear, provided we could get his body back to the level which would allow him to do it,’’ Scott said.

With 230 games under his belt, Wells is as dominant as ever.

He is excelling with his mind and body in the right place after a foot injury in 2014 and achilles in 2015.

“We refused to put him out there again when he’s not 100 per cent fit,’’ Scott said.

“It wasn’t helpful to him, certainly not helpful to the team.

“Too many times previously he’s been put back out on the field when not 100 per cent, he hasn’t performed to the level everyone expects of him and he gets heavily criticised, and he loses confidence because he feels he’s letting the team down.”

"...the sense of letting his teammates down gets to him and it can manifest itself in external criticisms and he starts to wonder if his teammates think that too.

“Players can play with duress, but I tell you what, they’re not the players with blistering speed, not the players with great agility and athleticism, because when you take that away from those type of players they become average players.

“The guys who I describe as tractor types, they can soldier on with issues, the Rolls Royces can’t.’’