OUT-OF-CONTRACT Collingwood defender Darcy Moore wants a long-term deal but is expecting a lengthy process before he arrives at a decision.

AFL.com.au reported in late March that the Magpies had opened discussions with the 24-year-old before the AFL placed an indefinite freeze on contract negotiations.

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Players were effectively forced to accept a pay cut as all parties in the game suffered during the global coronavirus pandemic that saw AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan press pause on the season.

With that in mind, Moore was unsure whether the long-term contract he covets will be "feasible", knowing there are "a lot of moving pieces in the industry to work it all out".

Richmond and the Western Bulldogs are understood to be among the rival clubs interested in the talented backman if he opts to depart the Holden Centre.

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"When the whole competition was shutdown, everyone was sort of in the same boat, where nobody knew what the competition was going to look like in a couple of months, let alone next year and beyond," Moore told SEN radio.

"So whether you were contracted or not, there were a lot of guys who had some question marks, and being out of contract made me no different than anyone else.

"I've just resigned myself to the fact it will take a bit longer in this current climate. I don't even know if list managers are working … there is probably bigger fish to fry in the industry right now than my deal for next year.

"I'll just keep my focus on getting back this season and in the next month or so, and hopefully it will all take care of itself, but at this stage I don't think there are any developments at all."

Moore's injury history – particularly of the soft-tissue variety – is likely to be part of any negotiations surrounding his new deal, given he's played more than 17 games in his five full seasons to date.

Last year he missed five games because of a hamstring setback and another two with an ankle complaint. 

Moore's training program has adapted to cater for his string of soft-tissue problems, where he focuses mostly on speed rather than aerobic work.

"It wasn't so much (me) mistrusting my body; just probably because of my age and just the condition I was in – I knew I was super fit and sort of felt really good," he said. 

"But it was just something about the way I was preparing at the club that just wasn't setting me up to play football.

"So I was more questioning my program and what I was doing and the way I was being managed, more so than questioning my body.

"The game just keeps getting faster (with) more and more demands, and being at my size and my speed, it can be a bit of a difficult burden to bear at times, so that was another hard component of it to manage."