Sitting in the Etihad Stadium media box, Scott McMahon says he felt helpless watching his team-mates against go head-to-head with the Magpies on Sunday.

The only involvement the 26-year old was able to have in the game was via Twitter, as he ‘tweeted’ his observations for NMFC.com.au while serving a one match ban for striking.

“It was real tough (not playing),” McMahon told NMFC.com.au.

“I’m not the best of footy supporters. I get frustrated and angry and I have to calm myself down or I get told off.  

“… but it was pretty hard this week because I was up in the media box so I had to control what I said. It’s definitely not something I enjoy doing.”

McMahon hadn’t missed a game since illness kept him out for seven matches early in 2012, but this time there weren’t any physical barriers just the mental challenge of having to observe from a distance.

“That’s probably the hardest thing; doing pre-season for so long and then having to miss the first round from a suspension.  It’s disappointing and frustrating, but in saying that, I’m looking forward to hopefully getting a game this week.”

The number 42 says there were encouraging signs from the Kangaroos at different stages of the match, but ultimately there is a lot of work to be done.

“Our decision making and skill level were down a lot.  I heard we only had 39 tackles and you’re not going to win many games with 39 tackles, so I think they’re the two areas where we really need to improve a hell of a lot.

“Obviously the last twenty minutes, it showed that we’re capable of playing a good brand of footy and we came back pretty hard but we just couldn’t get over the line.”

North won 10 of 13 games after McMahon’s return last season, and he’s likely to be welcomed back with open arms by Brad Scott and the match committee when the team is announced on Thursday.

Coming up against a Geelong side full of confidence after its win against Hawthorn, North Melbourne will have its work cut out.

“As every game is, it’s won and lost in the midfield,” McMahon added.

“If we can get on top in the midfield and get it in one-on-one then our forwards are going to give pretty good contests and either mark it or bring it to ground.”

With the Cats boasting plenty of attacking options, North’s back six will need to be at its best too.

“They have a crack at their kicks so we really need to be right on defensively, not give them any room and hopefully limit their inside 50’s.

“Their two big fellas (Tom) Hawkins and (James) Podsiadly don’t miss too much when they get it. It’s going to be a big task for whoever gets them, Turbo (Scott Thompson), Narny (Nathan Grima) or Spud (Michael Firrito).”

Having trained competitively with the Cats at Skilled Stadium during the pre-season and coming up against them in the NAB Cup, McMahon believes the experience will be invaluable on game day.

“They just got over the line against us in the NAB Cup but we didn’t play anywhere near as well as we could have.

“We should take a bit of confidence from that even though it was a loss, I still think we improved from the previous times we played them and we trained against them.

“It’s the old saying, we shouldn’t get beaten by something that we know.”