Worrying reports continue to emanate from North Melbourne which paint a picture of a club in disarray.

The main source of angst surrounds coach Brad Scott, who last month had his contract extended by two years until the end of 2020.

Towards the end of the season, it is believed Scott had been weighing up whether to throw his hat into the ring for the Gold Coast job as Rodney Eade's replacement.

Brad Scott Scott Barbour/Getty Images

But when he heard in late August that Richmond star Dustin Martin had indicated he would accept the Kangas' seven-year, $10.5 million offer, Scott had a change of heart and decided to re-commit himself to the Roos. Martin would be the centrepiece of his new, remodelled midfield.

But a day or two later, the soon-to-be Brownlow medallist told North that he would, in fact, not be accepting their mega-deal and would instead be staying at Richmond.

The timeline went something like this: 27 August - Richmond play their last home-and-away game, against St Kilda; 28 August - Martin flies to New Zealand to meet his father, Shane. North Melbourne at this point are convinced Martin is going to accept their offer; 29 August - Scott wins a two-year contract extension; 31 August - Martin announces he'll stay at Punt Rd after the Tigers sweeten their deal.

That apparently left Scott unhappy that he had missed out on the opportunity to make a fresh start up north and was now stuck coaching a team in full rebuild mode. The North board - some of whom were unconvinced about Scott's performance anyway - were equally bemused, having re-signed a coach who was showing signs of being less-than-fully-committed to the task ahead.

Staffers talk of Scott being in his office with his door closed and blinds down - and shut off from the rest of the club. This is something previous footy department chiefs had to speak to him about, urging him to be more engaged around the club and encouraging an open-door policy for his players.

Scott, 41, was appointed senior coach at North in 2010 and took the club to preliminary finals in 2014 and 2015.

There is also a feeling among some Roos' insiders that the club has been distracted by the push to win an AFLW licence, which to their credit they've achieved, and the desire to be an inner-suburban 'community' club - rather than focus on the core business of producing a successful AFL side.

Off the field, the weights coach has been sacked after 12 months and the club is looking for a 'senior physical performance' boss after Steve Saunders - who was retained last year even though he had moved back to Adelaide where he had set up a new business - was told that fly-in, fly-out arrangement was no longer tenable.

Brad Scott Adam Trafford/AFL Media/Getty Images

In the footy department, Darren Crocker, the director of coaching last year, will move back to become a line coach after Brad Green's departure. His old post looks like being scrapped.

All the while, Cameron Joyce, the general manager of football, is struggling in his first full year in the job to make an impact. It has been well documented - in this column, and elsewhere - how the Roos have pursued a raft of free-agency players in recent times but come up empty-handed.

Joyce was supposed to be mentored in his first year or two in the job by the highly regarded footy veteran Geoff Walsh, but that plan fell in a heap when Walsh was offered a lucrative full-time gig back at Collingwood late last year.

So a tough off-season looms for the Roos, and one which will sorely test the mettle of chairman Ben Buckley and his board.