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MELBOURNE does not deserve pick No.3 as compensation for losing free agent James Frawley, Brisbane Lions chief executive Greg Swann says.
There has been plenty of conjecture about the Demons' compensation should Frawley officially leave the club when the free agency period opens on Friday.
A compensation selection immediately after the Demons' first-round pick, which is currently No.2, is one potential outcome but Swann believed that would be unfair on both his club and the rest of the AFL.
"We need to keep pick No.4," Swann told NAB AFL Trade Radio on Tuesday.
"Melbourne have done a really good job in trying to sell the world that they will get pick No.3 for James Frawley and that pushes us back to No. 5 and that has a little bit of an effect on our ability to trade as well.
"I know (Paul Roos) said that everyone he speaks to thinks that pick No.3 is a fair pick but we certainly don't. We would have thought an end of first round would be best for James."
Swann cited Hawthorn receiving pick No. 19 in last year's draft for losing Lance Franklin to the Sydney Swans as a relevant case study.
"We're talking pick No.3," Swann said.
"It's a massive pick in the draft and I would've thought that would be reserved for top-echelon players.
"We've got the immediate pick after so we go from four to five and that has a big effect on us and our ability to trade and everything else.
"It's an interesting debate. Certainly they need compensation, there's no doubt about that, but whether it's as high as pick No.3, obviously the panel that determines that will do so."
The Lions' No.4 selection has already been mooted as a key part of a possible trade with Collingwood for Dayne Beams.
Swann said that Lions' head of coaching and development, Peter Schwab, would sit down with Collingwood list manager Derek Hine at the NAB AFL Draft Combine in Melbourne this week to begin preliminary discussions regarding a trade for Beams.
Two-time Lions best and fairest Joel Patfull has indicated his willingness to move to a Sydney club and Swann said there was no animosity involved; rather, it was a polite request from Patfull with a view to his future.
"He's sort of looking at life post-footy and he thinks he'll end up in Sydney, as in Sydney the town, not Sydney the footy club." Swann said.
"He's got a year to run (on his contract) and he understands that we hold the aces there.
"But he's said in the end when he retires he'll end up in Sydney. If there's an opportunity to get there, he's happy to do it. If not, he's happy to stay.
"No one is killing themselves over it but it's just one of those ones that's been floated. So we'll have to work through that and see where that ends up."
