Silky smooth North Melbourne midfielder Daniel Wells admits he should have fulfilled his much trumpeted potential years ago.

With the Kangaroos battling an ordinary 1-2 start to the AFL season, the spotlight has again fallen on Wells.

North coach Dean Laidley berated the more talented players for not working hard enough in Sunday's 54-point loss to Hawthorn.

He refused to single out individuals but it was clear Wells was included in his summary.

And the clever 24-year-old acknowledged he was struggling to make the step up from good player to match-winner.

"I think I'm probably a couple of years overdue," Wells said on Tuesday.

"There's been a couple of wasted years but there's still a bit of time, I'm still 24."

He knows, though, that the club won't persevere with lacklustre performances forever.

"It can end just like that so I suppose I'd better get a move on."

Well said he needed to work harder and knew his on-field efforts had been sub-par.

"I suppose it's not good enough. I've got to be a lot more consistent, I need to turn it around," he said.

"I was pretty spent (after Sunday's game) but there are times I probably could have gone a bit harder - sometimes your body allows it.

"It's hard to put your finger on it but I'm going to be working pretty hard this week and on the track this week I'll keep it pretty simple."

Roos skipper Brent Harvey has thrown his support behind Wells, confident the young star can regroup.

"He's going alright, he gets sat on every single week," Harvey said.

"He's a very, very good player, he's just got to go to the next level now of a great player at this footy club and I reckon he can.

"He puts himself under a lot of pressure every week to perform because he's such a good player.

"Some of the games I've seen him play - he can certainly take it to another level.

"He's mentally tough and he's overcome a lot of barriers in his life and in football as well so we'll back Daniel Wells 100 per cent."

North play Essendon at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

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