North Melbourne has "capacity" in its salary cap to be a key player in this year's trade and free agency period.

The undefeated Kangaroos have had great success targeting key talent in recent years including Nick Dal Santo, Jarrad Waite and Shaun Higgins.

The Roos had been linked with freshly re-signed Bomber Cale Hooker, and have dollars to spend on another key-position player.

"We certainly have capacity to explore that, and we manage it in a way so you've always got a little bit of flexibility if talent's there and it's available," North Melbourne chief executive Carl Dilena told AFL.com.au.

"We'll continue down that path, having a look at the options, and if there's someone there who fits the bill and fits our needs we'll certainly explore it hard."

The local market isn't the Kangaroos' only focus, with the club sending two scouts to this week's US Combine in Los Angeles.

"We're very keen on having a good look," Dilena said.

"We're certainly focusing on those sorts of markets."

North was the first to make a play at the US Combine market, picking up North Carolinian Eric 'The Beast' Wallace as a rookie in 2012.

Dilena denied Wallace, who returned home at the end of last year, was a failed investment.

"I don't think it's a failure, I think it was an experiment at the time," he reasoned.

"Eric did as well as he could. Unfortunately he didn't make the grade in the end, but you learn from that. I think there's plenty of other talent out there we might be able to access."

North Melbourne plays the Western Bulldogs in a top-of-the-table clash at Etihad Stadium on Friday night.