Barely a week into his time at North Melbourne, Will Phillips is already turning heads.

Selected with pick three at last week’s NAB AFL Draft, Phillips has officially joined in training, and has quickly made his presence felt. 

“He’s only been here a few days, but you can see the standards he’ll bring to this place,” List Manager Glenn Luff told The Herald Sun.

Luff said Phillips was an obvious choice with the Roos’ first pick. 

The 18-year-old held in such high regard, he was presented with the number 29 guernsey, made famous by games-record-holder Brent Harvey. 

“Will is going to be just that manic trainer and performer, and the leadership was clearly appealing to us,” Luff said. 

“He just feels like a North Melbourne player. It became pretty clear to us that Will was the man for this group and where we want to head.”

In all, North added three inside midfielders with its first three selections.

Luff said South-Australian recruit Tom Powell boasted “elite footy IQ”, while Charlie Lazzaro was another who fit the North Melbourne mould. 

“Like Will, he’s pretty manic in how he goes about,” Luff said of Lazzaro. 

“He’ll set standards. Those two (Phillips and Lazzaro) will be interesting to watch pushing each other for a long time to come.”

Luff said the trio offered more than the traditional inside-midfielder.

“They can run and get out and they’ve all got different little assets they bring to the game,” he added. 

“We felt it was a great opportunity to block a group of midfielders to set us up for the next decade.”