The smiles on the players' faces at Arden Street said it all; footy is officially back for 2018.

A light session on Monday morning kicked off North's preparations for its season-opener against Gold Coast, with the race for selection is well and truly on.

With almost a full list to choose from, Brad Scott and the match commitee will have to trim 40-plus fit players down to 22 by Thursday afternoon, when teams are submitted to the AFL.

The Roos' players will have their main session on Wednesday, before heading to Cairns the following day, with an open session scheduled for Friday at Cazalys Stadium from around 11.30am.

Then, the first bounce at 6.25pm on Saturday night against the Suns.

"It's a whole new ball game (Round 1)," Todd Goldstein told North Media. 

"But in saying that you also have to learn from your mistakes, and we've had a really good opportunity the last two weeks to learn from our mistakes (in the JLT Series) and teach a really young group. 

"You don't know what's working until you come up against genuine opposition, and we got a really good insight into what sides are going to do against us and where our deficiencies are. We'll be a lot more prepared for them (the Suns) than we were the last two weeks." 

Shaun Atley.

Billy Hartung.

Jack Ziebell and Declan Mountford.