Every Thursday AFL.com.au presents Inside Trading, with breaking news and the best analysis of the player movement landscape covering contracts, trades, free agents, the NAB AFL Draft and industry insights.

TRIPLE PREMIERSHIP TIGER STARTS TALKS TO EXTEND

RICHMOND has opened talks on a new deal for triple premiership Tiger Daniel Rioli, with a two-year extension expected.  

The new deal would tie Rioli to Punt Road through to the end of 2023, when he will reach free agency after eight seasons with the club since being a first-round draft pick in 2015. 

Rioli was dropped earlier this season but returned to Richmond's senior side after one game out, with coach Damien Hardwick saying the small forward brought more to the side than purely possessions. 

His manager Ralph Carr said he had started discussions on a new deal for the 2017, 2019-20 premiership player. 

"Daniel's will be done pretty soon I'm hoping," Carr told AFL.com.au. 

"I think that one will be done in the next couple of months."

The 23-year-old was this week cleared by the AFL of any wrongdoing for his part in the nightclub brawl which left him with a bruised face, however his teammate Shai Bolton was found to have made the wrong call by getting involved, which saw him break his wrist. 

Bolton, who has become a star of the competition, is out of contract and Carr said his client remained content to wait until the end of the season to make a decision on his plans for 2022. 

DRAFT AND FREE AGENCY FOCUS FOR ROOS

NORTH Melbourne again plans to be busy in the player movement market at the end of this season while maintaining its focus on rebuilding through the NAB AFL Draft. 

The Kangaroos brought in 11 players at the end of last year via trade, draft and free agency, including free agent Aidan Corr and former Magpie Jaidyn Stephenson through a trade.

And with the club again linked with Greater Western Sydney restricted free agent Josh Kelly, who is leaving a decision on his future until later in the season, the bottom-placed North Melbourne will hold firm with its long-term draft strategy.

"We're certainly going to the draft, it's your lifeline and we will be doing that, but of course we scout the rest of the market. That's our job," Kangaroos head of player personnel Scott Clayton told AFL.com.au's Road to the Draft podcast. 

"We talk about currency and there's two lots of currency: there's the dollars that you spend and you've only got a finite amount of that because of the [salary] cap and you've only got a finite amount of draft picks. 

"So the draft currency is just as important as the dollar currency, so you have to manage both of those things well and we will. We've got an open mind and they're the ways the way we'll bring in personnel over the next two, three and four years – we'll go to the draft and look at the other options."

Midfielder Trent Dumont and key defender Ben McKay are among North Melbourne's leading out of contract players, with unrestricted free agent Dumont last year weighing his options before deciding to stick with the Roos. 

Clayton said the club's list manager Glenn Luff was in conversations about a new deal for Dumont, who he expects to stay a Kangaroo. 

"I would have thought so," he said. "I sat in a player meeting the other day and we have a very committed group together that are hellbent on improving together so from that I'd be confident that would occur." 

SWANS TO LOCK IN YOUNG GUN

SYDNEY defender Tom McCartin is off the market, with the important youngster agreeing to a new contract.

A number of rival clubs have been informed that the 21-year-old Swan has agreed to terms on a new deal with Sydney, which as reported by AFL.com.au in April is expected to be a two-year extension.

That would tie McCartin, who was out of contract at the end of this season, to the Swans through to the end of 2023, with the emerging Swan playing all bar one game this year as he takes a hold of a key defensive post.

McCartin, who has been joined at Sydney by older brother Paddy who joined the Swans' VFL side, begun his career as a marking forward and booted 27 goals in his first two-and-a-half seasons at the top level.

However the second half of last season saw coach John Longmire use McCartin in the backline, where he was a revelation with his strong marking, courage and tough approach. 

The Swans quietly re-signed co-captain Josh Kennedy to a new one-year deal but fellow skipper Luke Parker, long-kicking defender Jordan Dawson, restricted free agent George Hewett and top-five pick Dylan Stephens are among those remaining unsigned with a salary cap which was tight at the end of last year. 

IN-FORM CAT TO WAIT TO START CONTRACT TALKS

FRESH off a career-best game, Geelong midfielder Quinton Narkle will wait until the end of the year before opening contract talks.

Narkle was magnificent in the Cats' win over Gold Coast on Saturday, collecting 34 disposals (15 contested), eight marks and six inside-50s in his fourth senior game in a row.

The 23-year-old has played just 22 games at the club since arriving at the end of 2016 having struggled to break into the Cats' star-studded midfield and last year he was up for grabs on the trade table.

His manager Ralph Carr said Narkle would hold off on any call on his future.  

"He's worked really hard the last five or six months and he's just starting to see the reward of that. Will he stay at Geelong? I don't know," Carr told AFL.com.au.

"I've had one initial discussion and he said 'Let's look at it at the end of the year, I want to see how I'm going then'.

"He's not been given that many opportunities, he's got one now and shown what he can do, so we'll see what happens closer to the end of the year."

Narkle signed a one-year deal last November that tied him to the Cats through to the end of 2021. 

TIGERS VETERAN TO PLAY ON IN 2022

TRIPLE Richmond premiership midfielder Shane Edwards has inked a new one-year deal to stay at Punt Road.

The 32-year-old has been sidelined in recent weeks with an ankle injury but will now be wiped off the 2021 free agency list.

It leaves Rioli, Bolton, and unrestricted free agents Jack Riewoldt, Kamdyn McIntosh, Bachar Houli and David Astbury as flag Tigers without deals for next season.

Riewoldt (293 games) is poised to become the fourth Tiger in history to play 300 games for the club in round 18 this season.

Edwards (273 games) will get the same opportunity next year off the back of his fresh deal. - Mitch Cleary