North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson has confirmed the club is keen to add experience to its list this coming off-season.
The Roos have the youngest and least experienced list in the competition in 2024, and are yet to claim their first win of the season as a young core struggles to remain competitive with contending clubs and rivals looking to rise from the bottom few rungs of the ladder.
External discussions have suggested the Arden Street club assesses the market for star senior talent who are currently struggling to break into the senior side, with the likes of former Sydney captain Luke Parker, Essendon's Dylan Shiel and GWS tall Nick Haynes among those that fit the bill.
Greats of the game who could have their careers extended at a club like North Melbourne include Collingwood champion Scott Pendlebury and Giants hard-nut Callan Ward, while the likes of Geelong premiership defender Jed Bews and West Coast wingman Andrew Gaff currently occupy the state league level.
Brisbane managed to find success with the recruitment of two of Clarkson's premiership stalwarts from Hawthorn in Luke Hodge and Grant Birchall ahead of the 2018 and 2020 seasons respectively.
Both players were able to aid the development of the Lions' young and emerging group, with coach Chris Fagan reuniting with the duo up in Queensland as he worked through an extensive rebuild.
A similar move could help North Melbourne's current struggles, with a majority of the clubs list still in the early years of their career.
Speaking to media on Friday, Clarkson made note of the club's lacking depth of mentors and experienced heads.
"Yeah, I think so," the four-time premiership coach said when asked if the club would be interested in bringing in veteran talent.
"We've seen that model before, particularly at Brisbane. 'Fages' did that with 'Hodgey' and Grant Birchall.
"We need that sort of direction and leadership that will assist us, as well as that bracket of 25 to 30-year-olds is probably a little bit less than the depth in that area at other clubs.
"We'll look at that, but they need to be the right fit. We need to feel like they can come in and have the contribution on-field. It's not just bringing them in because they're good fellas or historically they've been good leaders at their previous clubs.
"We'll look at any mechanism possible that can help fast-track these players through our system, but that's more of an end-of-the-year type of thing."
The Roos could also look to the Mid-Season Draft to bolster their crop of experienced talent, however it's assumed the club will look at the best available talent to suit a list need with its opening selection.
That pick currently sits first overall, while North Melbourne will be able to make a second selection given their pair of open list spots.
Clarkson said the Mid-Season Draft will be considered to bring in senior talent, however a finalised plan is yet to be ironed out ahead of the May 29 count.
"We'll go through that over the next two weeks. But that's certainly an opportunity too,"
"We'll look at that and see what's available, asses our list. We've got two spots. We'll look to fill them as best as we possibly can.
"The list management team will provide us with some options over the next week or two."
Currently last on the ladder, North Melbourne's 2024 National Draft hand reads as Picks 1, 21, 39, 57 and 72.
