Aaron Mullett says he is confident of getting back to his dashing best after re-signing with North Melbourne until the end of 2017.

Mullett, 23, was due to come out of contract at the end of this season but signed a new two-year deal with North this week.

The Eastern Ranges product loomed as one of the Roos' brightest prospects when, in his third season, he played every game and finished equal-fourth in the 2012 NAB AFL Rising Star Award.

But the half-back has endured an up-and-down run since.

Last year, he played 17 games but was dropped five times, and missed all three of North's finals.

Then a serious shoulder injury in January sidelined him until May, and he had to play eight-straight VFL games with North Ballarat before earning a senior recall, in round 15 against Geelong.

Mullett's bad luck with injury continued when he was substituted out of North's next match against Essendon with hamstring soreness and he subsequently missed the following round.

However, he returned to the Roos' team last Sunday against Melbourne as the substitute and is determined to finish 2015 strongly.

Mullett told AFL.com.au that as frustrating as the past two years had been, he was confident they would ultimately make him a better footballer.

"I think I've learnt over the past couple of years what makes me a good footballer," Mullett said.

"When I go away from those things, I'm not that great and I can get caught out a bit sometimes.

"It's pretty easy for me. If I defend well, I get the ball back and it's clear that's what I'm in the team for. But if I go away from that, then I won't be in the team – it's that simple."

Although Mullett has not kicked on since his breakthrough 2013 season, he has not completed a full pre-season since then either.

Before the shoulder reconstruction that ruined the second half of his 2015 preparation, he had a delayed start to his 2014 pre-season after undergoing toe surgery.

Mullett is hopeful he will have an interrupted run across the 2015-16 summer.

"I just need to get a lot of work into my body or it doesn't cope well - I come down with a lot of niggles," he said.

"I've had two pre-seasons that were pretty much non-existent and I do really need the work to be able to perform well every week.

"Some people can perform really well off limited pre-seasons but I need to get the work in over a full pre-season.

"Hopefully, this year I can have a really big pre-season and hit next year head on."

Mullett, however, is still very much focused on 2015.

Now he is back in North's senior team, he knows that if he can build some consistent form he could play his first final.

Mullett was overlooked for North's 2012 and 2014 finals campaigns, and does not want to watch from the sidelines again if the Roos make this year's top eight.

"I want to be playing finals footy, that's where you want to play," he said.

"Last year I was emergency and it really hurt. I got to watch the boys and we won a couple of games, which was great, but I wanted to be part of it more than anything.

"We're close to something big here and all the boys know that, we just need to put in the work.

"That's something that I've wanted to be a part of, so it was easy for me to sign on.

"I know a lot of the boys are in the same boat too."