NORTH Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson has revealed the club's first-round pick Lachy Dovaston is in the frame for a round one debut, while backing talented youngster Zane Duursma to emerge as a breakout talent in 2026.

The Kangas traded up to pick No.16 last season to secure Dovaston, with the highly talented small forward enjoying a standout summer on the track to muscle his way into the side's early-season plans.

"He is [in contention]," Clarkson told AFL.com.au.

"He played on the weekend and we're excited by this young player. He's just coming into the system. As senior coaches, you're mainly interested in these lads once they start playing in their top-age year. I didn't realise until [this week] when we were at a function that he played his bottom-age year as a back pocket. And then he emerged as a really dangerous forward.

"He had a terrific year last year as a small forward. He's got the capability of going into the midfield. We recruited him on that basis and he's had a really good summer. He's hardly missed a beat with any of his training.

"He'll be right in the mix, but that's the thing with this time of year. You've probably seriously got about 30 or 32 blokes who are fit and raring to go. It's up to the coaches to work out which of those 30 or 32 are going to fill their 23 spots."

Duursma is another likely to be in the side's mix for a round one spot against Port Adelaide on March 15, having spent his summer putting on significant size after a disappointing 2025 campaign.

The former No.4 draft pick has been restricted to just 23 games across his first two seasons on North Melbourne's list, playing in a variety of roles both forward and back as well as a stint on the wing.

Duursma's limited opportunities last season – he played just 10 games and made only seven starts for the entire year – led to rival interest last October, but Clarkson is confident the versatile youngster is adapting to senior footy.

"He's had a pretty good summer," Clarkson said.

"It was a little bit interrupted, just on his first return back from their longer break in November. He just had a little bit of tightness in his lower leg. But he's had a pretty good summer.

"He's getting bigger and stronger. The difficulty that we found last year was that I think he's best suited – his danger and where we're hoping he'll emerge – is as a third tall forward. But when he was playing on the third tall defenders, it wasn't so much he was giving away much height but he was certainly giving away bulk.

"He was just in marking contests, which we think is a significant strength of his, but he was just getting out-bustled. It's just like, let's try him on a wing or let's try him off the half-back flank. We did the same with Colby McKercher, Collingwood did the same with Nick Daicos, we did the same with Harry Sheezel.

"Where can these guys, who we know down the track are going to emerge with stronger bodies to be able to play different positions, but where can we still utilise their talents in different areas of the ground?

"We tried that [with Duursma] with limited success. He did OK on a wing, without being brilliant. We tried him at half-back in a couple of games and he was OK. But what it did, it unsettled him a little bit in terms of him hardly ever playing wing or half-back before. In-season, he was trying to learn these spots. He just lost a bit of confidence and a bit of mojo around what he can bring.

"We've had to do a bit of work with him, just around understanding that some of this is just getting stronger in the gym and getting continuity with his training. That's what he's been able to do really, really well.

"I remember Phil Walsh used to say, 'Has the kid got an AFL body?' He had AFL talent when he was first drafted, but he didn't have an AFL body. That's not to say it was a bad body, he just needed to get bigger and stronger. He's getting there, without being fully there yet.

"If you look at him now, you'd say, 'Oh yeah, he looks like he's got a bit more beef on his frame'. It's not so much that he was getting manhandled and thrown out of contests or being bullied in wrestles or anything like that, it's can they stick the tackle? When they come down from a marking contest, are they strong enough through their core to stay on their feet without going to ground? When the tackle comes, can they hold a really strong stiff-arm fend off like 'Dusty' (Dustin Martin)?

"Sometimes, it just takes hours in the gym. You wish you could do it in one pre-season, but for some of these lads it probably takes three or four."

Clarkson is confident Duursma will eventually settle as a forward, but suggested the youngster might still have stints around the ground this season as teams contemplate how best to use their fifth interchange player.

"It'll be horses for courses," Clarkson said.

"We've got five on the interchange – and I'm not suggesting we want to sit him on the interchange for the whole game – but what do we do with that fifth interchange player? What will the implications be for our forward line?

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"It used to be that you'd use your four interchanges as one for your backline rotation, two for your midfield rotations and one for your forward line rotation. Now you've got an extra one. Do you use that for a ruck? Do you use that for another forward? Do you use it for another back? It's probably unlikely that you use it for another midfield runner, because you've already got two there doing that.

"How we're going to use that, it will then determine whether you want to have a taller type of setup in your front end with Jack Darling, Cooper Trembath and Nick Larkey. What do you do with Paul Curtis, Cam Zurhaar, Lachy Dovaston, Zane Duursma, Jacob Konstanty, Robbie Hansen? I wish I could just stamp that and answer that question right now."

Subscribe to the Your Coach podcast to listen to Riley Beveridge's full interview with North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson in coming days.