RELATED CONTENT: Definitive Preview | Thompson to miss | Another warm welcome | Hunger games | It's a sell out

There’s a fair deal of excitement in and around the North Melbourne Football Club and Andrew Swallow says the players are totally caught up in it.

In Hobart looking to win their fourth consecutive match, the captain believes the players have all realised what it takes to win the big games.

“There were a few things we had to tweak and we’ve been able to do that. The competitive spirit is back, the hunger is there. The guys are really starting to play for each other, and I think the big thing is we are getting a good even contribution from a lot of the players,” he said on Friday.

While a sell-out home crowd will spur the Kangaroos on against the Eagles, Swallow believes the players must also rely heavily on one another.

“We want to come down here and it (the crowd) be a great advantage to us. A place where we can come and it’s blue and white. To have this almost like what West Coast have with Subiaco. To have that sort of fortress would be great.

“Down in Hobart’s a bit different than playing at Etihad, so I think having that first-hand knowledge of playing here (at Blundstone Arena) earlier in the year will do us good.”

[ MORE NMFC NEWS: DOWNLOAD MOBILE APP ]

With all 22 players chipping in on the field, Swallow says there’s been less reliance on Brent Harvey, Drew Petrie and Daniel Wells.

“The way we’ve been playing the last couple of weeks has been good. The competitive spirit of the guys really working well together, we’re getting a really even contribution from the majority of the guys so that’s been really pleasing.”

In Round 6 the Roos lost to the Eagles by 25-points and Swallow says the team learned a lot from that match in Perth.

“We’re lucky we played them earlier in the year, so we think we’ve got a pretty good handle on how they go about things.

“…We know if we can stop them (the Eagles) getting the ball inside 50 it’s going to give us a big chance. That’s one of the keys. We know they are a great defensive side. They like to press right up the ground and trap you in their forward half, so the midfield battle is going to be crucial.”

Now inside the eight, North’s fate rests in the players’ hands.

“Every game from now is really crucial to us. We’ve played some good footy throughout the year, but we’ve also played some really poor footy. The rest of the year is about trying to find that consistency and narrow the gap between our best footy and our worst.

“It’s funny people talking about the sort of style we are playing at the moment. Maybe it’s the way it looks on TV, but it’s nothing that we’ve been specifically coached to do. I think it’s just a result of the amount of run and spread we are getting from our guys. It may give us an advantage at times, but we also have to be careful that we can turn the ball over pretty easily if their pressure is good enough.”

Swallow admits West Coast’s elite list will be hard to stop, but says North is up for another test.

“It’s pretty hard (to target them) when you go through their midfield; Priddis, Selwood, Kerr, Masten, Shuey - they’ve got a lot of guys so you are not going to be able to contain them all. The challenge is to try and make sure they don’t damage you too much. It’s a big challenge for us and our group and we’re really looking forward to it.”