NORTH Melbourne's strong first half of 2018 should help its efforts to attract big-name recruits to the club, coach Brad Scott says.

North has been an aggressive player in the free agency and trade realms in recent years, and this season has already been linked to Eagles star Andrew Gaff and in-demand Magpie Jordan De Goey.

However after landing free agents Nick Dal Santo (2013), Jarrad Waite and Shaun Higgins (both 2014), the Kangaroos have come up short in big-money plays for rival stars such as Adam Treloar, Isaac Heeney, Dan Hannebery and, memorably last year, Dustin Martin and Josh Kelly.   

The Roos narrowly missed out on signing Martin and Kelly after a 2017 season in which they recorded just six wins and slipped to 15th on the ladder.

North was widely tipped to finish last in 2018, having seemingly entered a rebuilding stage following the recent departures of veterans including Brent Harvey, Drew Petrie, Daniel Wells, Andrew Swallow, Nick Dal Santo and Michael Firrito.

Scott and his team have so far defied those expectations, and return from their round 13 bye with a 7-5 record that has them eighth on the ladder and well placed to return to the finals after a season's absence.

The Roos' impressive start to 2018 will bolster their quest to land a big fish in October's player exchange period.

"I think that does help," Scott said.

"We have, I think, completely changed the discussion around North Melbourne around the last eight or nine years.

"We're firmly entrenched here in our heartland at Arden St, we've built a really sound business off-field, I think on-field we've shown that we can be competitive against the best over a fair period of time.

"I think we're building a pretty sustainable brand, so I think that any players who look at our football club think that this would be a great place to play their best."