NORTH Melbourne coach Brad Scott expects Josh Gibson to remain at the club next year despite strong speculation the defender could cross to Hawthorn in October's exchange period.

Last week, Gibson, 25, reportedly advised North he wanted out but Scott said Gibson was a required player and that the club would continue to regard him that way.

Gibson is out of contract after playing 65 games in four seasons for the Roos including all 22 this year.

"Other clubs are interested in your good players and Josh is certainly one of our good players," Scott told afl.com.au.

"My attitude is Josh is a North Melbourne player and I would expect him to be a North Melbourne player next year.

"He's a key part of what I want to do with our back six.

"Trades have a history of not getting done. There's certainly a lot of talk about them and when push comes to shove, nothing happens."

Since formally starting in the senior position on September 1, Scott has had individual discussions with every player on the list.

He acknowledged the club would look to find new homes for a number of them, understood to be midfielders Daniel Harris, Sam Power and Matt Riggio.

However, Scott ended any conjecture North would entertain offers for tall forward David Hale, who has three years remaining on his contract.

Hale kicked 22 goals from 16 games in a frustrating year and spent the last six rounds with North Ballarat in the VFL.

After a terrific pre-season, he had been expected to improve on his return of 37 goals from 22 games in 2008, which included a bag of eight against Geelong at Skilled Stadium.

Further adding to his disappointment, the 25-year-old had surgery on a fractured thumb three weeks ago, ruling him out of North Ballarat's finals campaign.

Scott said Hale's future was undoubtedly at North but, like Gibson, he was deserving of attention from other clubs come trade week.

"It's an extremely rare commodity to have a 200-plus centimetre player who can play forward and kick multiple goals, like Haley can," he said.

"Other clubs would be crazy not to be interested in him, but that's what happens.

"David has a really important role to play and will be a key member of our team."

Scott also revealed North would not approach any established players from rival clubs in a bid to rebound from a campaign that produced seven victories.

"We have a policy of adding to the exciting young talent that we've got, so we'll be looking to do that through the national draft rather than through trading," he said.