Daniel Wells is back from injury to add a silky edge to the North Melbourne midfield in Sunday’s AFL elimination final against West Coast.
Key defender Nathan Grima has also returned in time to help combat West Coast’s giant attack, along with utility Sam Wright for the Patersons Stadium encounter.
Wells’ return will be particularly welcome, given West Coast boast one of the competition’s deepest midfields.
The two-pronged ruck division of Dean Cox and Nic Naitanui were both named in the 40-man All Australian squad this week, having provided armchair service all year to the likes of Daniel Kerr, Scott Selwood, Matt Priddis and Luke Shuey.
Selwood is likely to again get the tagging role on Wells in Sunday’s match at Patersons Stadium.
“It’s hard to get a kick on Selwood and he’s had a great season,” said Wells, who tied with skipper Andrew Swallow for last year’s club best and fairest award.
“You’ve got to watch him as much as he watches you because he’s so damaging with the ball.
“We think we can match it with them but the intensity has to stay really high for the whole game.”
Coach Brad Scott expected the returning trio to make a huge difference.
“They’re ready to play, all three have trained really well today, so that was good news,” Scott told the Ten Network’s Before the Game on Thursday night.
“We thought Wells and Grima were close last week.
“Wright probably could have played at a pinch last week, but we wanted to make sure that he was right, he was a little bit crook anyway.
“But Sam Wright’s a really important part of our side and we all know how important Wells is and we’ve got a better back six when Nathan Grima’s there.”
Wells, who has missed the Kangaroos’ past three games, said it had been a priority to make it back for the club’s first final in four years, but would not have put been willing to put his team at risk if there were any lingering fitness doubts.