The Lions were hit hard at trade week with Justin Sherman leaving and Jared Brennan and club best and fairest Michael Rischitelli joining Gold Coast as uncontracted players.
They have been strongly linked to Oakleigh Chargers midfielder Andrew Gaff and Gippsland Power rebounding defender Dyson Heppell.
National talent manager Rob Kerr said the club would use its first pick, the fifth overall on a mid-sized player with a view to filling their needs rather than picking the best player available.
"Those blokes (Gaff and Heppell) are in that bracket we're looking at," Kerr told afl.com.au.
"Pick five will be to our needs. That was part of the rationale of wanting to trade up to that spot.
"If you look at Sherman, Rischitelli and Brennan (leaving) it would be nice to get a good quality midfielder in."
The Lions traded up from pick 10 to pick five as part of the deal that saw Brennan join the Suns.
Kerr said there looked to be a gulf in talent between the two picks.
"There is the bracket of players we thought would be useful given our needs but there is a reasonable degree of doubt that bracket would be there at 10," Kerr said.
"We're pretty close to having finalised our strategy. We've gone through and ranked players according to our needs. We are close to having reached our order of priority."
The Lions will take a youth-based approach to this year's draft after stocking up on experienced players in last year's off-season.
But Kerr said the club could give a second chance to Albert Proud who is still training with the club after being delisted.
Kerr said Proud would be strongly considered for a spot on the rookie list.
"Albert has got a couple of weeks to put his case forward," Kerr said.
