North Melbourne key forward Drew Petrie is hopeful they can recruit St Kilda star Nick Dal Santo ahead of AFL rivals Essendon.

Petrie was one of several senior Kangaroos players who met with Dal Santo as the Saints midfielder considers his future.

Dal Santo has a clause in his existing contract with St Kilda which means he could leave the club as a free agent or be traded.

“I’m hearing it’s out of two, Essendon and us, and strange things have happened in the trade period,” Petrie said on Friday.

“If we can get him as a free agent that would be nice. If we have to trade to get him it might take a little bit longer.

“I haven’t got any inside word at the moment but I’m very hopeful we’ll get him.”

Petrie said the meeting was a chance for Dal Santo and the North players to sound each other out.

“He wanted to find out about North Melbourne and we wanted to find out about Nick’s intentions and how much longer he thinks he can play and where he can play positionally,” he said.

“It was just a mutual discussion about him wanting to know about North and about us asking him about his intentions going forward.

“It’s still his decision and it’s up in the air and it has to be done through the right processes.”