Two things are becoming increasingly clear about new coach Brad Scott's philosophy at North Melbourne - play hard, and nothing comes easy.

Neither should surprise anyone who saw Scott play in the bruising manner he did during the Brisbane Lions' glory days, but Kangaroos utility Michael Firrito says Scott's focus has been well received after a poor 2009 season.

"It was encouraging the way we finished for the year and those late wins gave us a bit of momentum, but it was a disappointing year," Firrito said ahead of Sunday's pre-season cup game against Fremantle at Etihad Stadium.

"Brad has got things in place and we'd like to execute them, but the main thing is winning contested possession.

"We were a bit hot and cold in that last year and if you don't get that right you're not going to be any good.

"We've got the players who can win the contested footy, so we've just got to be better at that."

After an impressive win over Geelong in the first round of the knock-out competition, Firrito said North's focus was staying unbeaten, despite the necessity to get decent game time into most players.

"Our philosophy is we want to win every game we play and winning form is good form," he said.

"As much as we want to get our young blokes into the side, we've had a rule that we don't give out free games.

"This competition is really good for the footy club because we need to get our membership up."

Both the Kangaroos and Dockers have named strong squads for the twilight game, and Firrito was especially keen for North's defence to continue improving.

Young defenders Scott Thompson, Scott McMahon and Nathan Grima were some of the shining lights among a side that finished 13th, and Firrito was confident the backline could improve together.

"We will be pretty good," he said.

"It's still a pretty young backline, so it's good to have guys like Brady (Rawlings) and Daniel Pratt to help out Scotty Thompson and Grima, and we've also got guys like (Lachlen) Hansen, (Sam) Wright and (Gavin) Urquhart.

"The more you train together and the more you play together the better you are, but it's exciting and hopefully we can really shore up that back six."

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