A CANDID Zac Bailey has revealed he wants to stay at Brisbane as his free agency season rolls on, but says he is also weighing up being closer to family amid significant interest from both South Australian clubs.

Bailey, who is one of the League's most wanted players and one of only six restricted free agents remaining on the market, is originally from Darwin but has family in Adelaide and has garnered attention from both the Crows and the Power.

As revealed by AFL.com.au, Bailey is currently in the process of tossing up a mammoth seven-year deal from Adelaide worth around $10 million, a six-year offer to stay at Brisbane, and interest from Port Adelaide.

"Of course, I want to stay. I love this club," Bailey told AFL.com.au over the weekend.

"When it comes to contract years, there are a lot of factors you have to weigh up. I'm at that stage at the moment, just weighing things up. I won't rush into anything, but I'm loving my time at the club so far.

"Firstly, it's about just being happy. Coming into the club, especially at the Lions, it's such a good culture. You want to be able to go into work and enjoy every day and enjoy the work that you do. That's probably top of the list for me. Then there's stuff around family and being close to them. There's just a lot of factors to weigh up."

Brisbane's six-year offer to retain Bailey is understood to be financially less than Adelaide's, but the Lions have alluded to rival clubs that they would be capable of matching a rival free agency bid for the forward and forcing a trade.

The speculation around his future has circulated amid the best patch of form of Bailey's career, with the two-time premiership winner continuing his impressive stretch on Saturday with four goals from 21 disposals against Essendon.

"There's a bit going on in the media," Bailey said.

"I just try to ignore it as much as possible. If I start reading into all of that and looking at it, it would impact my footy. I don't want to do that. I'm just trying to block that out, because it will sort itself out eventually. For me, I just want to go out there and play well every week."

Bailey, who will turn 27 in September, has now spent almost a third of his life in Brisbane after growing up in Darwin before relocating to Adelaide at 15 for boarding school at Prince Alfred College and to play SANFL footy for Norwood.

"I've been all over the place," Bailey said on where he feels like home is.

"I grew up in Darwin and spent 15 years there, then went to Adelaide for boarding school for three years, then I've moved up here and lived here for nine years. I've been all over the place, but I love it up in Brisbane. It's hard to say, I think NT will always be home. But (Brisbane) is my second home now."

Bailey has been used in a variety of roles across his Lions career, but has been tasked by Chris Fagan with spending more time as an inside midfielder this season and is relishing the additional responsibility in the centre. Saturday's game was the fourth time in five matches where Bailey has kicked multiple goals and had more than 20 disposals.

"I felt like I played some pretty good footy towards the back end of last year," Bailey said.

"The goal for me last year was around my consistency. I look at some of the best players in the league and they don't just play well for one season, they stack seasons. That's something that I aspire to do and I'm grateful that I've been able to perform pretty well at the start of this year.

"I've been able to rotate through the middle a little bit. Last year, I played a little bit more on the wing but I've been more inside this season. I've had to learn a lot. It's good because we've got blokes who are so good in there. To be able to learn off those boys through the pre-season and put it into work this season, it's been pleasing."

Having claimed his first ever All-Australian blazer while combining roles as a forward and as a winger last year, Bailey's move to being more of an inside midfielder has been a long time coming.

"Everyone wants to get inside eventually," he said.

"Especially in our team, we've got a lineup of guys trying to get in there. If you get around the ball more, it's always going to be better. It's something I've always wanted to do and I'm glad I've been able to get a few extra minutes this year.

"I haven't played that much inside footy, so I've been able to learn a lot around the craft of playing as an inside midfielder with the running patterns. I worked pretty closely with Cam Bruce, who is our midfield coach, around playing that role and I think I've benefited from that.

"But also, the fact I've played wing and I've played inside and I've played forward – I actually played down back in my first year – that's one of my strengths as a player. I can play wherever 'Fages' needs me to play."