North Melbourne is poised for a midfield turbocharge as budding stars Finn O’Sullivan and Colby McKercher spend more time with the onball group to start 2026.

In the first session at Arden St for the new year, the Roos beat the heat on Thursday morning and potentially showed off some positional changes.

When broken up into forwards, mids and backs, O’Sullivan and McKercher spent the entirety of those drills with midfield coach Michael Barlow.

Both youngsters spent most of 2025 off half-back and their addition to the midfield would create even more headaches for midfield time, with Harry Sheezel also solely training with that group.

Luke Parker was among others in the group, alongside wingers Jy Simpkin, Bailey Scott and Dylan Stephens, while youngster Luke Urqhart also took on stoppage drills.

Cooper Harvey caught the eye as a forward late last season but has been largely sent back through the summer and trained with the defenders.

Having spent some time at half-back as he continued to try and find his feet last year, Zane Duursma trained with the forwards.

When the Roos broke into a transition drill, O’Sullivan’s class shone through as the former No.2 pick picked apart the zone defence, while wearing Chelsea star Cole Palmer’s No.10 jersey.

Draftee Lachy Dovaston showed the zip that won over Roos recruiters when he intercepted the play twice during the transition drill, to the delight of teammates.

Zac Fisher, who only played seven games last year after an interrupted pre-season, was largely confined to the stationary bike during the session, while Cam Zurhaar worked on his own and Josh Goater slowly jogged laps with compression on his right calf, after finishing the season with an injury there.

Goater visited rehab specialist Dr Enda King in Qatar to work on his fitness late last year.

Injury prone but talented forward Brayden George took part in most of the session, while wearing a no-contact cap, having finished last year with a shoulder injury.

HOW THE STARS RETURNED TO PRESEASON

They’re back!

A host of clubs welcomed back players for the first day of the post-Christmas pre-season training block today as the journey to Opening Round ramps up.

Adelaide, Brisbane, North Melbourne, Port Adelaide, Melbourne, Richmond, Hawthorn, GWS and Sydney were among the clubs tackling the sweltering conditions on the track today.

HAWKS SHOWCASE DAY 1 FITS

Leave it to the Hawks to get around how the players are looking as they roll into Dingley.

Hawthorn has lent into the first day beack celebrations, giving us an NBA-style rundown of plenty of players’ fits as they head to training at Dingley.

DEES PLAYERS HIT CASEY

Brody Mihocek, Caleb Windsor, Jacob Van Rooyen, Daniel Turner and Jack Henderson were among the first Demons through the door at Casey.

TIGERS RETURN

A host of young Tigers descended on Punt Road for the club’s first session of the new year.

Luke Trainor, Rhyan Mansell, Tyler Sonsie, Sam Grlj and Josh Smillie were some of the first Tigers through the door. They were also joined by veteran midfielder Tim Taranto.