North Melbourne have shared the goalkicking load ever since the departure of the incomparable Wayne Carey a decade ago.

And new coach Brad Scott is certain they can do so again in 2010.

Which is just as well, with the Kangaroos' best forward Drew Petrie set to sit out the first six weeks of the AFL season after breaking a bone in his foot at training on Tuesday.

Petrie will have a screw inserted into the fifth metatarsal in his right foot.

He was always going to miss North's opening two matches against Port Adelaide and St Kilda after being suspended for two matches for striking Power defender Alipate Carlile in round 22 last year.

Now Scott needs a longer-term plan to cover for Petrie, who won the club goalkicking title last year and finished fourth in the best and fairest award.

With a mix of the old and the new, the tall, the short and the in-between, Scott believes he has the personnel to make it happen.

"I'm very confident we've got enough talent up there, there's no doubt about that," Scott said on Thursday, three days before his senior AFL coaching debut against the Power at AAMI Stadium.

Much of the initial focus will be on David Hale, who needs a far better return than his 22 goals from 16 outings in 2009.

The same goes for experienced trio Corey Jones, Aaron Edwards and Lindsay Thomas, while Matt Campbell is looking forward to a better run with injury.

After undergoing four shoulder reconstructions in three years, promising key-position player Robbie Tarrant - the younger brother of Docker Chris Tarrant - is in contention to make his debut against the Power on Sunday.

Scott also has high hopes for tall duo Aaron Black and Nathan O'Keefe, both of whom are also yet to play a senior game, and Josh Smith, who has shown promise in seven matches in the past two years.

"We've got a very flexible forward line," said Scott.

"We can go quite tall or quite small and we've got the Aaron Edwards and Corey Jones types who are in-between.

"We've got a lot of options, we've just got to work out what the best mix is to beat Port Adelaide."

Another sub-plot in Sunday's match will be the presence of former North coach Dean Laidley in the Port coaching box.

But Scott said the importance of any inside information Laidley had on his former charges could easily be over-played.

"He'll be acutely aware of the intricacies of those players, what they can do and can't do," said Scott.

"But he'll have very little idea of the way we play football and (head coach) Mark Williams won't have seen a lot of us either.

"We've only played four pre-season games under my coaching and there's a lot of intrigue around that."

First-year midfielder Ryan Bastinac will make his senior debut for the Kangaroos on Sunday after being taken with pick No.21 in last year's national draft.

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