WAYNE Carey could return to North Melbourne in an official capacity if premiership teammate Darren Crocker is named as the club’s senior coach for 2010.

North has worked to mend bridges with Carey, inducting him into its Hall of Fame in March, and chairman James Brayshaw has suggested its greatest-ever player would be suited to a mentoring role.

Carey has sought help for anger management and drug and alcohol abuse in recent years, and even though Crocker said Carey had since rebuilt his life, he stressed a return to football was up to him.

“That's a question more for Wayne, whether he'd want to go down that path,” Crocker told afl.com.au.

“He's obviously got things really heading in the right direction for himself, but whether football's on his horizon or agenda, I'm not too sure.”

Crocker confirmed he was in regular contact with Queensland-based Carey, and had heard from him after North Melbourne's 22-point loss to the Western Bulldogs in round 13, Crocker’s first game as caretaker coach following Dean Laidley’s resignation.

“He texted me on the Monday to say bad luck, but he thought he saw some positive signs with the performance [that] weekend,” he said.

“It's always nice to get a text from a friend and a guy who reads the game and knows the game pretty well.”

Crocker elaborated when he considered his own hypothetical full-time appointment and Carey’s willingness to return to North.

“If he was keen to come back and I was the senior coach going forward, I would entertain that he might come in and fulfil a role,” he said.

“But to what extent that would be, whether it was just as a specialist coach or part of our new elite training facility with the learning and cultural centre, he might want to have a role to play there.

“He's definitely got something to offer the footy club, any footy club. That's not out of the question, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

While North’s new facility will be finished in time for pre-season training next year, Crocker is already encouraging his players to adopt a high-performance attitude to help them prepare for its completion.

Crocker, whose connection to North stretches back to the early ‘80s, said it was time for the club to upgrade to the resources of its competitors, but added that it was important to retain its renowned culture.

“I did speak with the players about getting a bit of a swagger back into the place that was definitely there throughout the '70s and I know was there throughout the '90s,” he said.

“We need to start to build that back into the place. We've been renowned for being a team that's always been very hard to beat.

“Win or lose, teams have had to pull out all stops to get over us. Those two things are really important.”