Injury-riddled former North Melbourne defender Jesse Smith has started training at Hawthorn, as part of the exodus from Arden Street to Waverley Park that this summer alone has seen Josh Gibson and Adam Simpson change their blue-and-white stripes to those of the brown and gold.

Of course, Gibson will be assuming a key role in the Hawk backline, while Simpson, the former North skipper, has started to cut his coaching teeth as an assistant under Alastair Clarkson.

But the Smith situation is intriguing. His split with the Kangaroos was less than amicable and seemed to centre around his belief that North lacked the medical infrastructure to repair his fragile hamstrings and ankles, which so far have restricted him to just 27 games in five years.

If the Hawks can get him right, North fans will be apoplectic, because he has shown glimpses - between injuries - of being a star. Never more so than his near best-on-ground performance against Hawthorn in the 2007 first semi-final, an upset win to the Kangaroos. It is on the basis of that one match that Hawthorn fans are hoping Smith can return to full fitness.

But that's only part of the story. The other is that his father Ross is Hawthorn's backline coach. It is a good arrangement for now, with Ross able to keep a close eye on his son's progress and presumably able to confer regularly with the club's medical staff as they oversee his Jesse's return to match fitness.

But should Smith officially join the Hawks at one of the drafts later this year, that relationship becomes more complicated. It is one thing for fathers to coach their sons at Auskick or in underage footy. It is another thing at AFL level.

Ask Denis Pagan what it was like to coach his son Ryan at North Melbourne. Ryan's draft selection alone caused a massive fallout between Pagan and his chairman of selectors and close friend Mark Dawson and Pagan has admitted since that coaching his son was one of the more stressful experiences of his time at the helm of the Kangaroos.

Perhaps all the Hawks are doing is allowing Jesse Smith to use their resources to give him the best chance of having another crack at league footy. But if they are considering taking it that one step further and drafting Smith for next season, you wonder whether someone at Waverley will be giving Denis Pagan a call - Clarkson played under Pagan at North - to check whether it really would be the best outcome for all parties.