North Melbourne say they are relying on their strong club culture to keep Ryan Bastinac from leaving the club.
There is talk 20-year-old Bastinac could be headed for Greater Western Sydney when his contract with the Kangaroos expires at the end of the season.
North's second pick in the 2009 National Draft, the midfielder is a close friend and former junior team-mate of Tom Scully who joined the Giants last year after just two seasons with Melbourne.
"What I am confident in is that we have got a great environment," coach Brad Scott told SEN radio on Wednesday when asked if he was confident the youngster would remain with the Kangaroos.
"As we have seen from Todd Goldstein our players want to stay and they excited about the future."
"All we can control is the environment that the players work in. If we hold up our end then I'm sure Ryan will want to stay."
"If players do leave us then that tells us more about the people they are anyway."
"That's pretty simple for us, if they like the environment they stay and if they don't, then probably in reality, we are better off without them," he said.
North have finished ninth in each of the past two seasons and are relying on a wave of younger players filling key positions to help them push for the top eight.
The Roos' first-year players have just returned from an induction camp under new development coach Brady Rawlings in Hobart.
"They are certainly stronger. They are looking more physically able to compete with other more mature sides."
"We will get better but what we can't control is how much 17 other clubs are going about it."
"The proof will be in the pudding," Scott said.
The Kangaroos' main injury concern is still midfielder Daniel Wells who is recovering from a life-threatening blood clot suffered at the end of last season.
"Wellsy can do everything in terms of training that we ask of him except contact. We have him in a different coloured jumper at training so he can avoid contact at all costs."
"But if there was a player on our list I would be confident of going into a season without a lot of full contact work it'd be Wellsy, primarily because when we train, hardly anyone can touch him anyway," he said.
North meet Richmond and Hawthorn on February 17 in the round-robin style first week of the NAB Cup. They face Essendon in Round 1.