North Melbourne has good reason to be optimistic about its chances against West Coast on Saturday night, All Australian ruckman Todd Goldstein says.

The Roos completed a light training session in front of a large Arden Street crowd on Friday morning before flying out to Perth ahead of the preliminary final against the Eagles.

Goldstein said the team had strong belief that it could match the Eagles and earn a Grand Final berth.

"The first 23 rounds are about qualifying for the finals,” the ruckman told the Herald Sun’s Sam Edmund.

“Obviously you want to finish top four and have a week off, but one day someone is going to come from fifth, sixth, seventh or eighth and win a premiership. Why can't it be us?"

"I'm probably at the point now where I'm confident in the way I'm playing, I'm confident in the way the team is playing and I think it doesn't matter who we come up against or what they're going to do. We focus on the things that make us good players as individuals and as a side.

"It's hard to not look beyond this week and what the possibilities are."

Goldstein will match up on Eagles ruckman Nic Naitanui in what is expected to be a game-defining duel, but will also have to contend with Callum Sinclair in support throughout the game.

The Roos' big man already has the upper hand against his West Coast counterpart, beating Naitanui for the sole ruck position in this year's All Australian squad.

Goldstein said he was looking forward to testing his mettle against Naitanui.

"You always want to play against the best in the competition and Nic Nat is right up there," he said.

"He's obviously got a lot of unbelievable strengths that are hard to take away, so we've got to really knuckle down and look at what he does well and how we can try to stop it.

"You know what you're going to get. I think it's just about trying to stop him using his leap and athleticism and trying to take that away from him as much as possible, which admittedly is a tough thing to do."