When your only concern heading into a new season is stopping one of your best players from going so hard at the ball, you're pretty well placed.

North Melbourne coach Brad Scott said on Saturday he would continue working with Jack Ziebell in a bid to lessen the risk to his body without diminishing his impact, after Ziebell's concussion late in the first half against Richmond was the only concern to emerge from a final season-proper dress rehearsal that both coaches found immensely pleasing.

"Jack Ziebell being knocked out aside, it was exactly what we wanted," Scott said of his team's 14-point win in a fluent, entertaining first leg of an Etihad Stadium double-header.

The on-baller has two weeks to recover before North opens its 2015 campaign proper against the Crows in Adelaide on April 5. Scott said the work put into Ziebell's approach in congestion would continue after he was met front-on by Alex Rance and knocked out as his head hit the turf.

"I've spoken to him about it, and certainly some of the positions he gets himself into, with not just his head," Scott said of a player who has twice broken his leg and had a shoulder reconstructed. "I've spoken to him about certain things, and we've trained certain things so he gets himself into a better position.

"Mostly for him it's about instinct - he's just an incredibly courageous, hard-at-the-ball type player. I'd never want to do anything to take that part of his game away, but we'll just work on techniques to enable him to protect himself a bit better."

Both Scott and his Tigers counterpart Damien Hardwick anticipate headaches of a selection variety ahead of round one after a game that featured five super goals and a raft of positives for both teams, not least the bright showings of Shaun Higgins and Mason Wood in a North forward line that will include Jarrad Waite in the season opener, and the form of Richmond's prime movers including Trent Cotchin, Dustin Martin, Brett Deledio and Jack Riewoldt.

"We were really happy with the hitout that we got," Hardwick said. "Obviously it was a pretty high intensity game, it was quick and action packed, probably defensively both sides were a bit open at stages, but we got a lot out of it.

"We came out unscathed. We got some players in some good form; overall it is a tick. We would have loved to have won the game, but the fact of the matter is we didn't, we got some areas to improve, but there were certainly some things we like also."

With Chris Knights and Nathan Gordon available for round one, and Hardwick pleased with experiments, such as Dylan Grimes playing on Brent Harvey, the coach couldn't hide his pleasure at his team's build up after a "flat out" game of round one intensity. His selection posers include whether Ben Griffiths and Tyrone Vickery can operate in tandem up forward.

"I'd like to go home, have a beer and then digest that one if that's all right," Hardwick said. "But both guys didn't do their chances any harm today. They're getting shots on goal, [although] we'd probably just like a few more through the big sticks."

While Cotchin put any concerns about the health of his hamstring to bed before being subbed off, and Martin indicated that sporting less hair and more tattoos won't make him any less threatening, Kamdyn McIntosh put a compelling case to win his debut after two injury-blighted seasons at Punt Road.

For North, Higgins displayed sufficient dash and polish to discomfort any Bulldogs fan, while Daniel Wells showed the class that was so sorely missed by the Kangaroos in a 2014 blighted by a foot injury. Ruckman Todd Goldstein was particularly impressive.

"I think Goldy at about 26 sees himself now as one of the premier big men of the competition, as he should," Scott said. "I think he's really set himself for a big season. He knows his game's built around workrate, and he's prepared that way in the pre-season. He's primed and ready to go."