As he prepares for his second NAB Cup since taking charge of North Melbourne, Brad Scott sits down with afl.com.au's Adam McNicol to discuss coaching against his brother, the injuries that have struck down some of his best players, and the chances of home and away games ever being played in Ballarat.

You're playing Geelong and the Western Bulldogs in round one of the NAB Cup. Will it be good to get that first clash against your brother, Chris, out of the way?

It will only quieten down until we play them again in round seven and then the circus will start again. More so than Chris coaching Geelong, I think it's a great chance for our guys to play two top four sides from last year, in Geelong and the Bulldogs. We definitely let ourselves down in those big games last year against the best sides, so it's a good opportunity early on to see how we go against those top sides.

Have you reflected much on how extraordinary it is that two brothers are coaching in the AFL?

Not really. You're too busy worrying about your own footy club than worrying about those sorts of things. It's almost like when you're a player, and you enjoy some success, you like to reflect on that at the end of your career rather than while it's still going. I'm sure it's something that we can reflect on in the future, hopefully in the distant future. We're both going to do what we can to help our clubs get to the top.

Will you and Chris be stirring each other at all in the lead-up to the game?

No, no. I think we're fairly professional and we'll catch up in due course and talk about it. We're just really focussed on getting our sides ready. I'm sure he's got an eye on round one, as we have.

You've had a fairly challenging pre-season with injuries affecting a few players. How is Hamish McIntosh's troublesome achilles tendon coming along?

He's coming along well. There's been no change to his progress. We were always confident that once he had the very minor surgery that he'd be on a pretty steep curve to getting back to play. We're still hopeful that he'll be available in round one of the regular season. He's still on track for that and we hope it continues.

How has Nathan Grima coped with having back surgery during the off-season?

He doesn't cope with injuries too well because he's such a competitor and wants to get out and train. He just loves playing the game. He's tracking really well and we expect him to be available in the early rounds of the year as well. But his absence gives an opportunity to other young players and I'm looking forward to seeing Robbie Tarrant and Luke Delaney get the chance to play key defence for us.

Drew Petrie seems to be training the house down after all those foot problems last year. How well is he going?

He is going really well but he was this time last year as well and we didn't see him much in the regular season. He's been terrific. He's been part of a group of our senior players that have trained really well during the pre-season. We don't like to get too far ahead of ourselves but it is exciting to think about what he might be able to do in our forward line this year.

Do the 40-minute games in the first round of the NAB Cup benefit a guy like Drew who might benefit from a short hit-out?

I think the extended bench has always taken care of that problem anyway. In round two of the NAB Cup, we'll still have six interchange players, plus two subs, so that enables you to rest senior players. By doing that it gives you the opportunity to have a look at your draftees and we think that Shaun Atley and Kieran Harper will be two pushing hard for selection. It also gives guys that we traded in, players like Ben McKinley and Cameron Richardson, a chance as well. I think it's a really good chance for our supporters to see players they haven't seen before.

The club remains committed to pushing for home and away games to be played in Ballarat in the near future. Is this a realistic goal?

Absolutely. Ballarat City Council are really strongly behind and now we just need the support of the state and federal governments. I know the people of Ballarat would love to see AFL games for premiership points, so as long as we can get all those plans to align then I'm sure it can become a reality.