Since being settled as a permanent forward at the start of the 2011 season, Petrie has been the undisputed main man in North's attack.
When kicking inside their forward 50, the Roos' default mode has been to go to Petrie, who, at 197cm and 101kg, has long been one of the strongest contested marks in the competition.
It's a strategy that has paid handsome dividends. The North co-vice-captain has led the club's goalkicking in the past two seasons, kicking a then career-best tally of 48 goals in 2011 before upping that to 58 last season.
But in the second half of 2012 North surrounded Petrie with fellow talls Lachie Hansen, 197cm, and Robbie Tarrant, 196cm.
The trio quickly developed a team-first ethos. Depending on the opposition match-ups, the three took turns at playing the focal point, sidekick and decoy. In 12 games together, they averaged a combined 6.3 goals and 14.3 marks a game.
However, opposition teams invariably sent their best key defender to Petrie.
Petrie, 30, told AFL.com.au this week he had enjoyed sharing the key-forward load with Hansen and Tarrant last season.
So much so, Petrie says he won't mind if opposition teams eventually start to identify Hansen or Tarrant as North's new No.1 in attack.
"It would be great if Lachie or 'Taz' can start to attract the best key defender," Petrie said.
"If that's happening it can only be good for the team. I've got no qualms with that at all."
But Petrie says he still feels there's more responsibility on him to perform than Hansen, 24, and Tarrant, 23.
"Spreading the load and responsibility is really good, but personally I feel more responsibility in this side, not necessarily to get a kick myself, but more so to help the team," Petrie says.
"I understand that it's going to take 18 players to win a game of footy and it's going to take the three of us forwards to really work well to win a game.
"But I just take a lot of that responsibility and out of the three of us I feel more responsible for how we go than the other two guys."
As well as North's three-pronged forward line worked last year, Petrie says it has considerable scope for improvement.
He says he, Hansen and Tarrant have benefited from working on their leading patterns and defensive running this pre-season, something they hope to refine further in the upcoming NAB Cup.
Petrie also says Hansen, who has played 79 games, and Tarrant, 25 games, should get better with more experience playing in attack.
"I think Lachie has probably been used in a lot of different positions over his career so far," Petrie says.
"Last year he was settled as a forward and this year is the same, which will be great for him.
"And Robbie had plenty of shoulder operations and injuries early in his career, so starting to play some regular football will help him.
"The more regular games they're able to play, the more consistent they'll be."
Petrie says the key to the trio's success last year was their selflessness.
Petrie admits he, Hansen and Tarrant are no different to most forwards: "I won't lie to you, we love kicking goals."
But he says as individuals they have learnt to take satisfaction out of goalless games as long as they have played their role and North has won.
"I think from a spectator and a fan point of view if they see no goals next to a forward's name they think you've had a quiet game," Petrie says.
"But internally we know our coaching staff judges us differently to just goals, kicks, marks and handballs.
"So we're not worried about having a zero goal game if we've played our role and the side's won.
"We all understand for the side to win games we can't rely on individuals to kick bags of goals each week.
"As a forward line, we probably functioned really well and kicked a winning score because we all knew to get out of each other's way when the time was right."
But Petrie knows he, Hansen and Tarrant can't afford to rest on their 2012 laurels. Not when North has a growing list of capable tall forwards.
Petrie says Majak Daw and Aaron Black particularly should push hard for senior berths this season, while ruckman Daniel Currie has the flexibility to play in attack too.
"We've got good depth at the minute in the forward line, certainly a lot more than we had two years ago," Petrie says.
"Throughout the year I'm sure there will be guys in our VFL sides who will be playing well enough to play seniors.
"So the pressure will be on the guys in the senior team, which is a great position to be in."
Drew Petrie is a forward in NAB AFL Fantasy. He averaged 81.32 points in 2012. Register your team at our AFL Fantasy Hub.
Nick Bowen covers North Melbourne news for AFL.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_Nick
