Brad Scott has all but assured Drew Petrie a place in North Melbourne’s elimination final side

BRAD Scott has endorsed Drew Petrie’s “big game” credentials — all but assuring his spot in the team for Saturday night’s elimination final against Adelaide.

Drew Petrie is likely to play for the Kangaroos this week. Picture: Getty Images

NORTH Melbourne coach Brad Scott has endorsed Drew Petrie’s “big game” credentials — all but assuring his spot in the team for Saturday night’s elimination final against Adelaide.

Majak Daw looks set to be made sacrificial Roo as stars Jarrad Waite (hip) and Scott Thompson (adductor) push for selection.

Scott also revealed how sacked veterans Petrie, Brent Harvey, Michael Firrito and Nick Dal Santo addressed the Roos on Monday night urging them to focus solely on playing finals.

The decorated quartet were told last month their services would no longer be needed at Arden Street beyond this season.

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“Our club’s focus is on this weekend and those boys have led the charge on that,” Scott said.

“All four spoke about how important this week is for us and that’s solely where our focus needs to be.”

Waite and Thompson must get through the final two sessions to force their way back into the line-up.

“We’re really conscious of Waite and Thompson — in particular — have played some pretty good footy in really big games, so they’re proven big-game performers so that will come into calculation,” Scott said.

Drew Petrie struggled in Round 23 but has the support of Brad Scott. Picture: Getty Images.

Petrie, 33, put himself on the selection knife-edge after collecting just four disposals in the final round against GWS Giants.

The 315-game veteran last Sunday blamed the poor performance on being “mentally drained” coming to terms with his shock delisting.

“Drew’s a quality finals performer so he’s done the job for us in big games before, other players look to him,” Scott said.

“When we’ve needed something in a big game he’s stood up to the plate so his history tells you that he’s a really important player for us.”

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Kangaroos skipper Andrew Swallow said the players were excited to be able to put a couple of difficult weeks behind them.

“The last couple of sessions that we trained have been as good as we’ve trained all year,” Swallow said.

“We’ve got great confidence in that we’ve been able to win games from this position and win interstate so we’re excited.”

Originally published as Brad Scott has all but assured Drew Petrie a place in North Melbourne’s elimination final side