MELBOURNE and Essendon are set to strike a pick swap deal that will make the Demons a club to watch in the lead-up to November's Telstra AFL Draft.
AFL.com.au's Cal Twomey reported on Sunday night that the Dees are set to get Essendon's pick 9, with the Bombers happy to part with the pick in case it gets swallowed up by a bid for star NGA prospect Isaac Kako on draft night.
INDICATIVE DRAFT ORDER Your club's picks as they stand
In return, Twomey is reporting the Bombers will get Melbourne's picks 28 and 40 this year plus its future first-round pick in 2025, with other later picks expected to change hands as well.
The move, which could be confirmed as early as Monday, would leave the Demons with picks 5 and 9 in this year's draft, which has been highly rated by recruiters across the competition.
With an enviable draft hand, the Dees could now look to move further up the draft board over the final three days of the 2024 Continental Tyres AFL Trade Period. Clubs can also do deals on draft selections during the pick swap window in the lead up to the draft in November.
The deal means the Bombers will get Kako this year and have two first-round picks at their disposal next year - their own and the one tied to the Demons.
Several clubs had been targeting Essendon's pick 9, knowing the Bombers were willing to give it up as part of their plan to secure Kako.
With a bid on the talented Kako a chance of coming from a rival club on draft night before Essendon's pick 9, the Bombers would have had to give up that pick when they matched the bid. Instead, the Bombers will still get their man by using a series of later picks instead, while they have also boosted their draft hand for next year by securing Melbourne's 2025 first-round pick.
After the first week of the trade period saw just two players change clubs, the period was blown open on Friday when Hawthorn traded its pick 14 to Carlton in a deal that has impacted the likes of Tom Barrass and Liam Baker.
The Bombers-Dees pick swap, should it go through officially on Monday, is also set to have a wide-reaching impact, particularly on the race for Gold Coast's pick 13 and the future of Dan Houston.