Forward Jarrad Waite leads North's goalkicking tally at the midway point with 27 majors, bagging 22 goals in the first six rounds of the season.

Small forwards Taylor Garner, Shaun Higgins, Jed Anderson and Kayne Turner have battled their respective injuries in the first half of the year, opening the door for draftee Corey Wagner to debut.

NMFC.com.au sat down with forwards coach Leigh Tudor to chat about how the line has functioned so far in 2016.

Ben Brown
14 games, 23 goals

"His highs have been really good this year. He's taking some more contested marks, he's kicking goals, he's presenting really well and he's improving his ruck work.

"He's been a really versatile player for us and he's been a really important part of the forward line mix.

"Even his defensive pressure has increased this year, so overall he's had a fairly good start to the year."

Brent Harvey
14 games, 25 goals

"He's one of those players that makes good decisions and he's got great skill execution, so we love it when he's got the ball in his hand.

"He's playing a lot more as a forward than he ever has before so there's a lot of differences between playing as a mid and a forward, and he's learning all the forward tricks again.

"He's one that reads the play so well, his defensive acts every week seem to get better and better, and he's been vital to the way we've performed this year."

Drew Petrie
14 games, 19 goals

"He started really well and his best is still really good. He gets the best defender every week, which makes life a lot easier for 'Waitey' and 'Browny'.

"The boys love him in the team because he always halves the contests.

"He's been a little bit quiet over the last few weeks but he's still the last (player) off the track, so he's giving himself every opportunity to get back to that great form that we know he can show."

Lindsay Thomas
13 games, 21 goals

"Lindsay's been good. He's just so dangerous and when he's on the move around stoppages he's such a hard player.

"He's starting to kick his goals again and getting on the scoreboard, which has been his focus over the last month. We do a lot of work on our goalkicking – the mental and physical side – and Lindsay does as much work as anybody.

"His defensive pressure is one of the best in the competition when he's on. His tackling pressure and the way he makes good decisions to defend has really helped us."

Jarrad Waite
12 games, 27 goals

"He had a tremendous start to the year with his running power and his marking power.

"He's a really hard match-up because he can play high half-forward, he can play deep forward, (he) understands the game and he pressures really well.

"His attack and defensive play for the first half of the year has been outstanding, and unfortunately he got a bit injured in the last few weeks and we've really missed him."

Shaun Higgins
Seven games, nine goals

"From day one when he came here, his leadership has been outstanding.

"He's worked really hard on his knee rehab and he's vital to the way we want to play with his leadership.

"He can play closer to goal, he can play high or he can go through the midfield, so he's so versatile and he's the exact type of player we need to get back and firing before the finals."

Robbie Nahas
Seven games, three goals

"He's been a little bit disappointed with some of the decisions he's made and his skill execution, but generally when Robbie comes in he has a role to play and he does it really well.

"He has roles at stoppages, he did a really good job on Adelaide's Brodie Smith at the weekend, where Smith was trying to get to the wing because Robbie kept him pretty quiet.

"We've been working on trying to make some better decisions with ball in hand and trying to have more impact on the game on the attack side of it."

Mason Wood
Seven games, 11 goals

"He's been really diligent in the way he's worked with the development coaches on the skills required to play AFL football and be a long-time player.

"Ground balls is something that he's worked on that's coming out now in games, his body work and his aerial contest are also coming out in games and he does a lot of work on his goalkicking.

"Mason deserved his opportunity and he's taken it with both hands. He's one of the players that is continually working on his craft … and he's starting to see the results of all the hard work he's been doing."

Taylor Garner
Three games, two goals

"You could see the impact that he made in those three games and that's why we're so excited to have him around the club.

"He's a strong player, opposition players know when he's around, he's physical, he attacks the ball really hard and he attacks the man when they've got the ball.

"He makes the other forwards walk taller so we're just trying to get him right and hopefully he can come in and make a really big impact towards the latter end of the year."

Kayne Turner
Two games

"Kayne is very similar to Taylor (Garner). When he's in the side, he plays a really good role for us around the stoppages and how we want to set up.

"He attacks the ball really hard, and he attacks the man and defends really well for us.

"Unfortunately for Kayne, he's had an injury-interrupted year but he's not far from coming back and we need him to put as much pressure on the guys in the side to keep everyone on their toes."

Corey Wagner
Two games

"The most pleasing thing about Corey is that he's just so coachable.

"He played really well in the VFL, he works on his craft, he asks the right questions, he watches the vision and he does everything asked of him.

"Full credit to Corey for putting himself in the position where he actually got a game, and he's at the point now where he's putting pressure on all the other small forwards to keep their spot."

Jed Anderson
One game

"It's been really tough for Jed. He came in and made a strong impact from the first day he got here.

"He works hard, he makes good decisions of when to attack and when to defend, he's strong over the ball and he's got good skills.

"He's been really unlucky with his hamstring injury. He's played two games back now (in the VFL) so he's starting to put some pressure on the guys in the seniors and hopefully it won't be too far until we see him back."