NORTH Melbourne will begin discussions with veteran ruckman Todd Goldstein in the coming weeks, confident that the 35-year-old wants to extend his career into an 18th season next year.
Goldstein passed Shinboner of the Century Glenn Archer last week as the third-most capped player in Kangaroos history and is due to finish the year just one appearance short of the second-placed Drew Petrie on 315 games.
North Melbourne is already set to farewell three veterans at year's end, with champion midfielder Ben Cunnington joining former captain Jack Ziebell and running defender Aaron Hall in announcing his retirement on Tuesday.
However, speaking on AFL.com.au's trade and draft show Gettable this week, North Melbourne list manager Brady Rawlings said he remains hopeful Goldstein can still add to his growing games tally in 2024.
Goldstein is yet to be offered a new deal by the Kangaroos, though Rawlings said the club's 2015 best and fairest and All-Australian ruckman has shown this year that his form and fitness remains up to scratch.
"Not at this stage [has a contract been offered]," Rawlings told Gettable.
"We've obviously had discussions with all of our elder statesmen. As you've seen in recent days and weeks, there's been some decisions made from those guys. We've had three that have decided to pull the pin and Todd's not one of those.
"We've had chats about where he sees himself. His body's still sound, he's in really good form. He's playing his 313th game this week, so he's as durable as there is. He's been an absolute champion of our club.
"I'm pretty sure he wants to go around again and I've had chats with [Goldstein's manager] Tommy Petroro around that as well. We'll probably start to heat those up in the coming weeks."
