Chairman Ben Buckley says North will again be an aggressive player during this year’s free agency window.

“We will continue to be bold and assertive in bringing the best possible talent into the club,” Buckley told the The Herald Sun.

“We will be extremely active in the free agency area (this year) as much as anyone else — if not more. Our supporters would expect nothing less and our team would expect nothing less.

“We clearly have substantive room to attract elite players. We won’t use that just because we have it, but we will use it to attract the right players ... the best players.”

The club launched a strong play to sign Richmond’s Dustin Martin in 2017, but won’t be deterred by the fact he eventually stayed at his original club.

“There has been lots of things written about our approach to Dustin (Martin); we obviously put a lot of effort into that, and we respect Dustin’s decision and wish him extremely well,” Buckley said.

“But we won’t let the fact we didn’t get him stop us from approaching others in the future.”

In recent years, North has landed several of the league’s best free agents, with Nick Dal Santo, Shaun Higgins and Jarrad Waite all making significant contributions after joining the club.  

While Buckley said it can be tough to convince players to leave, North will leave no stone unturned in its bid to lure elite talent.

“We will always be respectful of other clubs and their relationships with their players, but that is not going to stop us from getting the best available players,” he added.