North Melbourne coach Brad Scott doesn’t expect Andrew Swallow to make an AFL comeback until the second half of next season.

But the captain himself has a more ambitious timeframe, after rupturing an Achilles tendon in late July.

“It depends who you talk to,” Scott told reporters on Thursday.

“If you talk to me, I’m planning for the second half of the year.

“If you talk to our medicos they’re talking about the first half of the year somewhere.

“If you talk to Andrew it’s round one.

“Hopefully he’s right and I’m wrong.”

The only other Roo whose pre-season faces significant interruption is Sudanese-born ruckman-forward Majak Daw, who is recovering from a posterior cruciate ligament injury and might not be ready for the opening round.

But there’s plenty of brighter news at North Melbourne.

The club, which on Thursday announced their major sponsor had signed on for three more years, welcomed an AFL fixture which has them playing five Friday night games.

In football terms, it’s also much more favourable than last year, with the five teams they play twice including just one of this year’s finalists, Geelong.

“Any fixture would be easier than last year,” Scott said.

That comes after a big early off-season for North, who have snared St Kilda free agent Nick Dal Santo and exciting father-son draftee Luke McDonald.

Scott is even more excited about their off-field additions, led by ex-Collingwood football director Geoff Walsh’s return to fill that role at the club where he was previously chief executive.

Highly-rated assistant coaches Gavin Brown and Leigh Tudor have also joined Scott, along with former Melbourne Storm tackling coach John Donehue, while Geelong premiership captain Cameron Ling will run a leadership program.

Chairman James Brayshaw said North would also post a significant profit this year and were better off financially than at any time since he took over in 2007, when the club resisted pressure to relocate to the Gold Coast.