North Melbourne coach Brad Scott has dismissed trade rumours surrounding ruckman Todd Goldstein, but also failed to declare the 28-year-old as the Kangaroos' number one ruckman.
Earlier in the week, former Roo Nick Dal Santo said Goldstein could be traded to help North land a big recruit, after the emergence of Braydon Preuss over the first three rounds.
Goldstein is under contract until the end of the 2019 season however, and Scott hit back at Dal Santo's comments in a press conference on Thursday, suggesting the 2015 All-Australian ruckman wasn't for sale.
"I'll have to speak to our list manager guys about that. We don't tend to look to trade our superstars," Scott said.
"But again, it's Round 3. There's a hell of a lot of speculation for the rest of the year if we're going to go down that path.
"But I think it's more of a complement to our talls that you've potentially got other options than an All-Australian ruckman. I think that's a good position to be in."
Scott wasn't completely behind Goldstein throught the media session however, saying he wasn't the number one ruckman at the club, although he didn't say Preuss was either.
"That will be dictated by form. We don't label our players," he said.
"We'll just go in with what we think's best and if we're right, that's great. If we're not right 10 minutes into the game we'll change it and a lot of teams don't have that flexibility."
The pair have only played together once this season, after Preuss missed the opening game of the season and came into the side to replace Goldstein for round two.
They both took the field against the Giants in Tasmania last weekend, with Preuss the stronger of the two during the 42-point loss.