Francis, who is contracted, has told the Bombers he would prefer a trade back to South Australia. Essendon has said this would be unlikely and they wanted to keep him.

Without a player such as Francis entering trade negotiations Essendon will be pressured to part with pick 11 in order to secure trades for all three of Stringer, Smith and Saad.

GWS are likely to demand a second-round pick for Smith, who has been offered $550,000 a year for four years to join the Dons.

Adelaide defender Jake Lever was told by the Crows not to attend Friday night's club best-and-fairest award in light of his decision to quit the club and seek a trade to Melbourne.

The Crows had already met news of Lever's decision with a combative statement.

The Demons will face a difficult task in securing Lever in a trade with the Crows wanting two first-round draft picks. The Demons will seek to add to their first-round pick, selection 10, with another selection, possibly a future pick.

The Demons are likely to receive a pick for Jack Watts leaving the club but it is uncertain how high that draft pick will be and thus how persuasive it would be in sweetening a Lever deal.

Geelong and Collingwood have joined Port Adelaide in pursuing Watts. The former No.1 draft pick is poised to leave the club having already toured the facilities at Alberton. He will also tour Geelong and have a medical test there and is likely to do so with Collingwood if the conversations develop further.

Adelaide's Charlie Cameron, as expected, formally asked the Crows to trade him to the Lions on compassionate grounds to join family.

Free agent Tom Rockliff did not lodge paperwork to leave the Brisbane Lions for Port Adelaide on the opening day of free agency on Friday. With both clubs tied up in multiple deals, there was no urgency to complete the Rockliff deal.

Collingwood small forward Alex Fasolo, who is contracted until next year, is unlikely at this stage to be traded. There was some discussion between West Coast and the Magpies over the West Australian but it is unlikely that Fasolo, who has a good relationship with Nathan Buckley, will return home this year.

Port Adelaide's Jarman Impey will decide early next week between Western Bulldogs and Hawthorn in seeking a trade. He is contracted until the end of next year but has told the Power he wants to be traded.

Impey's friend and housemate Jackson Trengove became the first player to officially shift clubs this off-season when the Port defender lodged paperwork to move to the Western Bulldogs as a free agent.

Trengove, 26, was a restricted free agent but Port, as expected, chose not to match his contract terms from the Bulldogs and so let him leave. He told the AFL's trade radio he was pressuring his teammate to join him at the Bulldogs.

"I'm working on him, boys," Trengove said of Impey. "He's in a unique situation where he has to make a decision and I can't make it for him.

"I'd love to make it for him and I know where he'd end up if I was making it but he'll make a decision in the next coming weeks and he'll make the right decision for what's best for him."