Sydney led for most of the game, but went goalless in the third quarter, kicking six behinds for the term and finishing with 15 for the afternoon in round one of the pre-season as North Melbourne collected late goals through Ben Cunnington and Declan Mountford to seal the win.

But there were positive signs nonetheless for last year's beaten grand finalists, with the Swans trialling a new-look midfield under stand-in coach Brett Kirk which included ruckman Darcy Cameron, Isaac Heeney, Zak Jones and George Hewett.

Last year's Rising Star Callum Mills also pushed up into midfield throughout and was arguably the Swans best, showing all of the composure which underlined his game last season as he racked up 29 touches.

His strong showing will certainly give coach John Longmire plenty to think about heading into round one next month, with the youngster clearly adept in the middle of the ground but of such coolness that he would be missed if he was shifted from the back six in just his second AFL season.

"He's a really determined character, we'd like to play him up a bit more through the midfield at times," Kirk said.

"There's no ups and downs with Callum, he's got a pretty good balance with the way he plays his footy and attacks the game. It speaks volumes of his attitude and the way he goes about it."

Neither side was overly fluent for any great stretch throughout Sunday's game, which was as much to do with the humidity than the fact this was the first week of pre-season competition.

Goals were hard to come by on the long, skinny ground in the slippery conditions, and both teams lacked accuracy when chances presented themselves.

Sydney were willing to run the ball through the corridor at times and looked dangerous when employing that tactic, while for North, this was a first real look at the playing list after the departures of Brent Harvey, Drew Petrie, Nick Dal Santo, Daniel Wells and Michael Firrito.

Shaun Higgins provided his usual class while Western Bulldogs recruit Nathan Hrovat offered plenty of creativity in midfield and finished with two goals.

Big man Braydon Preuss was also tireless rucking against Kurt Tippett and Darcy Cameron all day, and looks to be maturing into a worthy back-up for No.1 Todd Goldstein.

The Swans would have been satisfied with Cameron's output, and just like the intra-club trial nine days he ago he switched back and forth with Tippett up forward.

"He spent the last few years in the WAFL and he spent most of his time playing as a forward and kicked 40 goals in the WAFL, it shows he's quite equipped," Kirk said.

"He was up against really physical opposition today but he handled himself well.

"We want to win every game but we were happy with the intent and the hit and the pressure round the ball. We probably turned it over a bit in the second half and let them back in but as a learning for us as a team we thought we identified a couple of things.

"That's what this time of year is all about."

Sam Reid was relatively quiet up forward as he continues to press his claims for a round-one berth after failing to play a single AFL game last season through injury.

Brownlow Medal runner-up Luke Parker played limited minutes in his first hit-out since off-season knee surgery but was his usual courageous self when called upon. Dan Hannebery and Heeney also look to be tuning up nicely for the start of the season.

Sydney 0.3.4, 0.5.6, 0.5.12, 0.8.15 (63)

North Melbourne 0.0.2, 0.3.6, 0.5.8, 0.9.11 (65)

Goals - Sydney: Florent 2, Cameron, Kennedy, Robinson, Hannebery, Fox, Foote North Melbourne: Wood 2, Hrovat 2, Higgins, McDonald, Turner, Cunnington, Mountford

Best - Sydney: Mills, Cameron, Jones, Heeney, Parker, Hewett, Maibaum North Melbourne: Macmillan, Pruess, Hrovat, Higgins, Dumont, Cunnington, Gibson