North Melbourne young gun Harry Sheezel has waived off any concern surrounding a foot injury off the back of his stellar 34-disposal debut in Round 1.
Sheezel, who claimed the season's first Rising Star nomination for his efforts against the Eagles on Saturday, hardly took part in Tuesday morning's session at Arden Street, beginning away from the main group.
After conditioning on the sidelines with Jaidyn Stephenson, Darcy Tucker and Aiden Bonar to start the session, the teenager eventually linked up with the main contingent to work on his ball movement.
Sheezel soon left the track and wouldn't return until nearly the end of the session, where he again was limited to no running.
Just four days out from his side's Round 2 trip to Fremantle, Sheezel confirmed he had sustained some soreness in his left foot, but believes he'll be fit in time for this weekend's action.
"It's not too bad, I just had a little sore foot which we're just managing this week," Sheezel said.
"I'll be fine. I'll train Thursday and be all good."
Veteran Ben Cunnginton was also kept to a limited session on Tuesday, while fellow Round 1 representative Miller Bergman was sidelined.
22 of Sheezel's 34 touches against West Coast came by foot, with the Ajax product moving the ball with precision out of the defensive 50 in his maiden appearance at AFL level.
Sheezel, who has re-signed with the Roos for a further two years, joined North Melbourne as the best small forward in the draft, however has begun his career at half-back.
The agile youngster is expected to resume the defensive role for Round 2, with a return to the forward line or even a switch into midfield potentially on the cards sometime this year.
"I think that's where I'll probably start," Sheezel said of his defensive role.
Defender
Disposals
Marks
Rebound50s
"I'm just keeping an open mind to whatever Clarko wants and I'll play wherever. Forward is the other one that I'm most likely to play. Maybe a little bit of midfield time.
"I played (defence) a few years ago for like a half and I actually suggested to my coach last year, and he said 'nah, just stay forward'.
"So when Clarko did mention it, I was kind of open to it, and liked the idea and was excited by it."
Sheezel's debut performance has seen the Roos' top draft selection gain plenty of favouritism for the 2023 Rising Star Award, potentially succeeding last year's winner in Collingwood's Nick Daicos.
Daicos enjoyed arguably the best first season of any player this century, with the father-son gun deployed in defence under new coach Craig McRae to average 25.76 disposals from each of his 25 appearances.
Now studying Daicos' role, Sheezel is hoping to replicate a similar responsibility in his first year at North Melbourne.
"I've watched a bit of his vision recently and that's kind of how Clarko introduced the idea to me," Sheezel said, speaking of Daicos.
"(Clarkson) said maybe do something similar to what he did last year, because he's a free player and it really helped his transition into the game.
"Just how much freedom he played with (in 2022) and how good he was at starting their offence and playing with that freedom and using his decision-making and composure. So that's something I tried to implement when I played there."
Sheezel is likely to gain some competition for the honour of best first-year player this season from two of his close mates and former teammates in Brisbane's Will Ashcroft and Hawthorn's Cameron Mackenzie.
The trio of top 10 draft picks and ex-Sandringham Dragons stars wished one another the best of luck as they made their debuts over the weekend, with Sheezel even thinking his chance of a Round 1 Rising Star nomination could've been over after Mackenzie's strong start to life as a Hawk.
"We wished each other all good luck and well done on their debuts," Sheezel revealed. "Their star players.
"Cam was unbelievable in the first quarter (against Essendon). I got a bit worried at quarter time but I'm sure they'll be nominees really quickly."
North Melbourne will head west to face Fremantle at Optus Stadium on Saturday at 7:30pm (AEDT), hoping to start their campaign with two wins from as many matches.
