FREMANTLE is digging its heels in over Lachie Neale, with new football chief Peter Bell believing it would be a "feather in my cap" to convince the star midfielder to rebuff Brisbane's interest and commit to the Dockers.
Meanwhile, Freo is still waiting to hear if Melbourne power forward Jesse Hogan will request a trade home after touring the club's Cockburn facility last week.
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Neale joined elite company as a two-time Doig medallist on Saturday night and admitted he didn't know where he would be playing next season, with the Lions dangling a five-year deal.
Brisbane's pick No.4 in this year's NAB AFL Draft is on the table, but the Dockers have made it clear that selection alone wouldn't get a deal done.
Neale is contracted for next season and due to become a restricted free agent at the end of 2019.
Speaking as clubs met at Marvel Stadium on the opening day of the Trade Period, Bell hoped the 25-year-old would remain in purple long-term.
"Lachie Neale is a two-time best and fairest winner at our footy club (2016 and '18), and came second in the other year (2017) … (he's a) quality person, we would love to keep him at the footy club," Bell said.
"Being a new footy manager, or general manager of football on day three (of the job), it would be a feather in my cap if Lachie stayed at the footy club, so that's what we're working towards."
Lions football manager David Noble said there was plenty to do before an agreement could be reached.
"We've started discussions but there's a lot of water to go under the bridge yet," Noble said.
"It's great that someone like Lachie, of his calibre, has indicated that he wants to go to our club. We'll certainly do everything we can to get him there."
The opening talks went smoothly, according to Noble.
"The discussions were pretty amicable. That's all it was. It was just an open discussion this morning," Noble said.
"First time we'd been able to sit down with (Freo CEO and acting list manager) Steve (Rosich).
"Belly's said he's only three days into the role, so it was just an open discussion about where they sat with Lachie, where our position was as far as him coming to our club and we'll just take it from there through the week."
"Clearly, Jesse was at the facility the other day and we spent a little bit of time with him," Bell said.
"The appeal of Jesse Hogan is obvious. He's a quality player, he's only 23 years of age, but there's a lot of complicating factors, obviously, so we haven't had any further information to this stage."
The Dockers have also targeted Rory Lobb, with the Giants big man understood to be leaning towards choosing Fremantle over West Coast if he returns to WA.
"Rory is another player who has great potential, guys of his size and athleticism are pretty rare, but as far as the semantics of the deal – or any deal on any player – I'm not going to be offering a running discourse," Bell said.
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Fremantle CEO Steve Rosich has declared the Dockers have up to five recruiting targets in sight, but the Dockers appear out of the race for wantaway Geelong onballer Tim Kelly.
"It seems like that's a deal between Geelong and West Coast," Bell said.
