Hale is contracted for another two seasons and while the Roos aren't hell-bent on shipping him out, they are open to a possible trade.
Melbourne is known to be keen on Hale and Hawthorn general manager of player personnel and strategy Chris Pelchen said his club would also consider the 26-year-old.
"He's a player that we have spoken about," Pelchen told afl.com.au.
"We've certainly had some discussions internally about David.
"We haven't formed an opinion or a decision on whether to actively pursue him at this stage ... but he is a player that we've spoken about.
"In terms of our overall ruck stocks, I think we're in pretty good shape but having said that we haven't discounted bringing in a more mature-age player who could give us more support, particularly as immediate as 2011."
The Hawks came in for criticism from some quarters this year as they battled to match some of the competition's more powerful ruck divisions.
With Simon Taylor sidelined for most of the season, Brent Renouf shouldered the bulk of ruck duties with relief from Wayde Skipper.
Pelchen defended his club's stance to trade for midfielder Shaun Burgoyne and defender Josh Gibson instead of a big man last year.
"About six months ago people were a little bit hysterical about our ruck stocks and for those who have taken note of player lists across the whole competition, we've got the equal number of ruckmen on our list to any club in the AFL, bar none," he said.
"The most that any club has got is six and we've got that. Unfortunately early in the season we had significant injuries to four of those six."
Just how vigorously the Hawks will pursue Hale remains to be seen, however Pelchen said he still expected to be involved in next week's trade period.
He said the club was yet to make a firm decision on rookie-listed forward Carl Peterson, while the future of 2005 draftees Beau Muston and Beau Dowler may also be determined in the coming fortnight.
"Both have been with us for five years and were very talented youngsters," he said.
"They're players that have certainly had an apprenticeship with us and, similar to Carl, we haven't formed a decision on those [players].
"Both boys are coming out of contract and, at the moment, depending on what the activity is across trade week, that’s when we'll form an opinion going forward with both those boys."
