MELBOURNE has confirmed its interest in Collingwood forward Chris Dawes and Gold Coast youngster Josh Caddy, and hasn't given up on premiership Pie Sharrod Wellingham despite his links to Perth.
The future of Dawes is suddenly up for debate with the Magpies confirming the arrival of West Coast forward Quinten Lynch on Tuesday via the Gillette AFL Free Agency period.
Wellingham remains out of contract and is home in Perth reportedly meeting with West Coast and Fremantle this week.
Caddy is looking for a new home after telling the Suns he wishes to return home to Victoria.
List manager Tim Harrington said the Demons were interested in the three players with the club keen to secure a mix of young and experienced talent throughout the trade and free agency period.
"We're interested in all the talented, tall midfield quality players at the other clubs so we would be interested in that type of player [like Dawes], yes," Harrington told AFL.com.au's Trade Radio.
"[Caddy] is another player like I spoke of before … in comparison to Tom [Scully], he's probably 12 months behind but we see him playing 10 years of footy.
"We haven't given up on anyone.
"Midfielders are always people you're after. We haven't ruled ourselves out of trying to at least get an audience with someone like Sharrod Wellingham or any of the midfielders who are out there."
Harrington confirmed Melbourne veteran Aaron Davey would remain at the club next year despite his indifferent season marred by injuries.
He also said the Demons hadn't made a final decision on whether they would recruit father-son possibility Jack Viney if they were pushed to use their first draft pick by Greater Western Sydney or Gold Coast.
Father-son bidding takes place on Monday, with clubs possessing picks higher than the Demons' opening selection of No.3 invited to bid for Viney.
Viney reportedly met with the Suns on Tuesday at the first day of the NAB AFL Combine at Etihad Stadium.
"It's very simple. The two clubs in front of us in the pecking order, if they decide to call out his name, we have a decision to say either he's yours or we say we want Jack at our club," Harrington said.
"It comes down to the day.
"He's a very, very determined young lad. It's the decision we need to make; obviously we're sitting at pick three and is Jack worth pick three? That's what we have to decide.
"There's other factors that come into it as you get more information about what other clubs might do with, for example, pick two, so we have to weigh what we would lose out if we do say yes, Jack comes to us, compared to someone else calls him and we get the second live pick in the draft and who that might be."
The Demons have selections three, four and 13 in the first round, with the latter two compensation picks for Scully, who went to the Giants last year.
Harrington denied the Demons had offered new Tiger Chris Knights a deal, or Brent Reilly a four-year contract.
"We have been linked to a lot of players and we have been active, we have been scouring the markets throughout the course of the year," he said.
"However, there has been a lot of linking us with players via other clubs or managers that is completely wrong - opportunistic, I would say."
Click here for the Gillette AFL Trade Period hub
Click here for Trade Machine
Jennifer Witham is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow her on Twitter @AFL_JenWitham
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs
