NORTH Melbourne coach Brad Scott says there is no reason why the club can't return to finals football in 2010.

The Kangaroos made their formal start to pre-season training on Monday
for their first session under Scott, who is buoyed by the players at
his disposal.

Those players, almost half of them 21 or younger, formed a list that
finished 13th this year but won three of its last four games.

"With young players, I'm certainly not going to put a ceiling on where
they are," Scott said from Arden Street before the session.

"One of the risks with having a young team is that you put limits on
them. People accept that it can be a development year for the club. We
don't want to use that term at all.

"We've got good, young players and we want to see what they can do.
It's not a development year for us. We'll be out for the ultimate
success.

"The competition is very close. If you look at our best side, it is a very competitive side against anyone in the competition."

Key defender Nathan Grima won his second time trial at Princes Park
earlier in the day and Scott acknowledged the running strength of many
of his taller players, particularly Drew Petrie, Todd Goldstein, Robbie
Tarrant and Lachie Hansen.

However, it will be a conservative summer for midfielder Daniel Wells, who continues his recovery from osteitis pubis.

"We'll take a very cautious approach with Wellsy, but it is very
important we get him right for the start of the year; not so much for
the pre-season games but more for round one," Scott said.

The midfield is where North needs to find its greatest improvement and
Scott suggested time trial results for small forwards Lindsay Thomas
and Matt Campbell meant they could spend more time in that part of the
ground.

"We've identified that as an area where we've relied on too few for too long," Scott said.

"Adam Simpson's obviously moved on so that's a big hole that someone
has to fill. It gives a young player a really good opportunity in
there."

North remains without a midfield coach or second development coach, but
Scott said the club was edging closer to making those appointments,
along with some other key football personnel.

Announcements could be made as soon as next week.

"One of the problems with being very thorough in your process of selecting those people is that it takes time," Scott said.

"We are very confident with where we are and we are going to attract some very good people."

He added he was very disappointed to part with injury-troubled
half-back Jesse Smith, who was delisted on Friday and will seek a new
home in this month's NAB AFL Draft.

"He's made a personal decision and the facts are that he believes,
whether it's right or wrong, that we weren't able to support him well
enough with the resources we had at our disposal," Scott said.

"We've got to go about changing that pretty quickly."

Two or three players discarded by other clubs will be invited to train with North in the coming weeks.