Geelong forward Steve Johnson is confident the hip problem which troubled him throughout the second half of last AFL season will no longer hold him back.

The skilful 26-year-old started last year in career-best form, kicking 32 goals in the first 10 rounds.

But he kicked just eight more for the year, missing seven of the club's last 15 matches and struggling through others, eventually having exploratory surgery a week out from the finals.

Johnson said he had made a late start to full training this pre-season, but was confident of making it through the season in good condition.

"I'd love to play every game, the hip's been feeling really good the last six weeks, so hopefully it just gets better and better," he said.

"Even when it does feel good you've got to stay on top of it.

"It's not so much the hip that gets sore, it's the muscles all around the hip that give away.

"Once they give away you find it really hard to run and kick and that sort of thing, so I'll stay on top of it to make sure it doesn't get sore.

"But at the moment I wouldn't be playing if it wasn't feeling as good as it is."

Johnson said the Cats, who won last year's NAB Cup despite not having a major focus on the competition, would again take a low-key approach, but the players' competitive traits would again come out.

"You want to be competitive and the spirit of the boys will come out and want to play and win and if we happen to win, the next game we'll look to win again," he said.

North Melbourne, Geelong's opening round opponents on Sunday, are more desperate to make a good start, with a young list and a new coach Brad Scott.

"Brad's been a breath of fresh air through the club," reigning best and fairest Andrew Swallow said.

"He's come in and given us a lot of direction, tweaked a bit the way we're going to play.

"So we're really looking forward to getting out there and hopefully we'll have a pretty strong list to choose from."

Swallow said a key element of Scott's gameplan was to apply defensive pressure over the length of the ground and he had also introduced new aspects of sports science to the club.

That will include players executing recovery exercises while on the interchange bench and during breaks between quarters, rather than just post-match.

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP