Old job post republished on LinkedIn: network first or apply now?

I came across a rather old but still active job post that I find interesting (status: republished 8 hours ago on LinkedIn).

Ideally, if the job post was new, I'd try to connect with an employee doing a similar role to understand how is it like to work in the company, assess company culture etc. I do this before to maximize chances of receiving honest answers.

But with an old job post I fear that it might be filled before I get to speak with someone, since I have no direct contact in there.

What's the right strategy in your opinion?

Well, if you do not try, you'd never know!

There's no harm in going ahead and trying to connect with someone having knowledge of the posting. You do not know why they have re-opened the positing - it can be for various reasons, only someone actually having that knowledge can pinpoint it for you.

For that matter:

"it might be filled before I get to speak with someone,..."

can be the case for a new job posting as well, depending on the generalization of the job profile and/or availability of the skillset in the market. I would not bother about that much - and actually if this is a concern, I'd apply first and in parallel try to find a contact for getting more info.