New North Melbourne coach Brad Scott refuses to label 2010 a development year for his young side, as he believes there's no reason the Kangaroos can't play finals.

"Absolutely not," said Scott, who on Monday took charge of a North training session for the first time.

"The competition is very close and if you look at our best side it's a very competitive side against anyone in the competition.

"We don't want to use that term (development) at all because 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."

North will need to produce a big improvement on their 2009 performances if they are to climb into the eight, after they finished 13th last season with seven wins, one draw and the lowest tally in the points-for column of all 16 teams.

But Scott's optimism is based on developing the Kangaroos' younger players, and being able to call on some top shelf facilities.

The football department expects to be based in the multi-million dollar training centre at Arden Street within a month, which will give the once cash-strapped club resources the equal of any in the league.

"I've come in with a lot of new ideas and initiatives and every single one of them has been implemented," Scott said.

"There's no excuse for me and certainly none for the players."

Scott nominated the midfield as the major area North needed to develop, but was encouraged by Monday's 3km time trial, where goalsneaks Matt Campbell and Lindsay Thomas ran good times.

Scott said the small forwards could be used to bolster North's on-ball brigade and play alongside Daniel Wells, who is recovering from a bout of osteitis pubis.

From a football sense Scott also took encouragement from North's 2010 draw, which has the Kangaroos playing just two of the 2009 finalists twice and travelling five times.

But he was aware of the commercial challenges the club faced given they have limited exposure on free-to-air television and low-drawing home games against all six non-Victorian clubs.

"We acknowledge where we are as a footy club, we've got to start playing better footy, we've got to start being more successful and when we do that we expect the draw to reflect that," he said.

Scott was excited to finally take the reins on the field after being appointed to the position in August.

He expected to have his support team finalised within the next fortnight, as the club is close to appointing two more assistant coaches, sports science experts and performance analysts.

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