Having returned home after six years with West Coast, North Melbourne GM of Football, Brady Rawlings, believes the club is in a great position.

Rawlings began his new role at the end of of 2019, but has keeping a close eye on the team’s progress since initially being appointed much earlier.

“The second half of the year, what Rhyce (Shaw) was able to do with the team in such a short period of time was terrific,” he told Sportsday WA.

“It sold a lot of hope to our supporters.

“The energy it created amongst our playing group, from what I heard, throughout the back half of the season was a real positive. It’s really propelled us into the pre-season.”

Rawlings’ addition is one of a number of changes to the club’s football staff.

“We’ve got a lot of new coaches as well, so we are getting some new voices around our players,” he said.

“The environment they are creating is a really positive one for our players and our staff.

“For everything to go well at a footy club you need a lot to go right, your list, your strength and conditioning, your medical and training and education all needs to come together to have a successful year.”

Having recently worked with some premiership stars, Rawlings has seen what it takes to reach the ultimate success.

The three-time Syd Barker Medallist confident North’s on-ballers in particular, can take another step up.

“Everyone wants to have dominance in the midfield,” Rawlings said.

“We are quite lucky at North with Todd Goldstein, to have an absolute elite ruck in the competition, who’s been very durable for a long period of time. That really helps us get our hands on it first.

“Ben Cunnington, Jack Ziebell, we think are really up there in the top echelon of midfielders in the competition. Shaun Higgins is absolute class.

“We think we’ve got a bit of flexibility … Jy Simpkin really emerged in the second half of the year. We think he’s got some real potential to become a really good player for a long period of time.

“We saw Tarryn (Thomas) mainly play forward, but he had some midfield minutes as well. We added Aiden Bonar to that mix as well, and Jed Anderson is an absolute bull in there as well.

“We’ve got a lot of players in there who can get their hands on the ball first.”

North will play three games in the pre-season, with two Marsh Community Series matches against the Western Bulldogs and Sydney, and a practice match against Melbourne in-between.

“We felt by playing on the second day of Marsh and the second-last day of Marsh 3, we really needed a game in between that,” he added.

“It ended up falling on the same day as the state of origin match. Any of the players who do play in the state of origin, will play on the same day.

“It gives us a good opportunity across those three games to get enough time into our players.”