NORTH Melbourne captain Adam Simpson wouldn't care if his side played five-minute quarters against the Western Bulldogs in Darwin this Friday night – he's just looking forward to lining up on someone other than a teammate.
With extreme weather predicted – most significantly, the stifling heat - the match has been shortened to 15-minute quarters, plus time-on, from the normal NAB Cup length of 17.30. Players also receive longer rest than normal at each of the breaks.
Simpson, who touched down in the Northern Territory with his side on Thursday, said the Roos are unconcerned about the late change to proceedings and are simply excited about commencing a competitive hit-out for 2008.
“I don't think the players are too worried. We just want to play against someone other than ourselves," he said.
"It's that time of the year and we just want to get out there, whether it's 15 or 20 minutes, we're not worried. With the interchange rotations, it doesn't worry us (either). We just want to get out there and have a kick.”
With the NAB Cup offering a $350,000 purse for the victors and a $160,000 runners-up prize, the cash-strapped Kangaroos enter the competition backed by strong incentive to claim the title. Yet Simpson said the players want to beat the Bulldogs regardless of the impressive gains on offer.
“Obviously when we get out there, we really want to win," he said. “But we haven't set a goal of winning the competition or anything like that. We find when we're competitive and put up a good show, it's a good stepping stone for the season.
“We've pretty much got a full strength team but so have the Doggies, so it should be a pretty good battle. I don't think that both teams' goal would be to win this series.”
Simpson said a final decision on whether Nathan Thompson is available will be made after the side visits TIO Stadium on Thursday evening. "I don't know, we train this afternoon and we haven't seen the ground yet," he said.
"I'm sure [coach] Dean [Laidley] will reserve his judgment until after we train, but I can't see any reason why not. He's in the team at the moment and, unless it's torrential rain, I can't see why he wouldn't play.
"We've got on emergency who has come up with the flight and I think they've reserved that judgment until after we train."
He also said fellow knee reconstruction recipient Leigh Harding is looking forward to his first senior encounter since 2006. "He's been the forgotten one with Thommo coming back, but he's ready to go," Simpson said.
“He played a few games towards the end of the season last year in the VFL, and he's been training full-on since we started back. He's going to be ready to go. It's a credit to him; he's had a long road coming back as well, so it's going to be exciting for him."
