Ahead of his final game as North Melbourne interim coach before Alastair Clarkson re-takes the reins, Brett Ratten sees potential in playing rucks Tristan Xerri and Todd Goldstein in the same side.

With Callum Coleman-Jones going down with a second concussion for the season against Hawthorn in Round 18 and young key forward Charlie Comben sidelined with an ankle injury, North Melbourne made the decision to recall Goldstein and pair him with Xerri for last week's bout with the Saints.

Although the result fell St Kilda's way, both rucks enjoyed solid individual outings battling Rowan Marshall and Anthony Caminiti, and Ratten said the combination could be retained as the Kangaroos hunt a long-awaited win against West Coast on Sunday.

"I think it was something to explore," he told reporters at Arden Street on Wednesday afternoon.

"'X' (Xerri) kicked a goal up forward which was great."

"With both of them in the team and both of them playing all right, I think you can explore that moving forward.

"That will be the discussion at match committee today. Do we keep going that way or do we change?

"Personally, I thought it was pretty solid."

The Kangaroos head west this weekend for the second time in 2023 to do battle with the Eagles, 18 weeks after they dramatically triumphed over Fremantle by one point in Round 2.

It's a game that pits 17th on the ladder against 18th, with Ratten labelling the clash a great opportunity as both clubs look to end their long losing streaks.

"We played Freo (over there) earlier this year and won which is a positive but that was Round 2 and now we're at Round 20, so there's a big gap there," Ratten said.

"It's going to be who puts their best foot forward. We know after last week that if we play that brand of footy and with that appetite we'll be right in it, and that's what we want to do."