NORTH Melbourne ruckman David Hale says it's too early to speculate about the prospect of him joining a potential Gold Coast side in the future.

While a second Queensland team is very much on the AFL's agenda, it would seem the entity won't be competing for at least the next few seasons.

Hale, a born and bred Queenslander from Broadbeach, says the prospect of a move home is something that is unlikely to come into his mind before the AFL actually has a physical presence on the Gold Coast.

"I don't know (about leaving). They've talked about it with Nick (Riewoldt) in the past few weeks, but I can only wait and see what happens, I think it's still three years away," Hale told the media at the launch of Rivalry Round on Tuesday, where he posed for photos with another Gold Coast product, Michael Osborne.

"We can only wait and see what happens when it eventuates, but it's a long while away yet."

For now, Hale's only focus is on doing his bit for North Melbourne, and he says he's fully aware of the Roos' rivalry with Hawthorn, who they take on in a traditional Saturday afternoon clash at Telstra Dome.

"We've talked about (the rivalry) in these sorts of games, and we've talked about the history of our club, especially in the lead up to the semi-final last year," he said.

"Obviously (the semi-final) was the biggest clash we've probably been involved with, so we know the history dates back to well before, but we really can only go back as far as our playing careers and last year was a big occasion.

"Hopefully we can get a pretty big crowd out here on Saturday."

Hale says his teammates never lost faith in their ability despite coming under heavy fire after they were soundly beaten by the Bombers in the opening week of the season, and that coach Dean Laidley just wanted them to get back to basics.

"(Laidley) said he just wanted us to play more as a team, because in round one we started pretty well but got overrun," Hale said.

"But last week we got back to playing hard footy and winning stoppages and stuff that we pride ourselves on, like winning contested ball which is where we got smashed in round one."

"Once we do that, we're pretty good team and if we can continue to do that this week against the Hawks, who are pretty good at it as well, it should hold us in good stead."