Melbourne GM of Football Josh Mahoney has confirmed the club won’t give up a first-round pick in the Ben Brown deal.
The 27-year-old nominated the Dees in recent days, after North Melbourne publicly put him on the trade table in September.
Mahoney said that due to the uncertainty of list sizes and the number of conversations the club is having with several players, they wouldn’t be parting with a first-round pick in exchange for the key forward.
“I don’t think it’ll be a first rounder (we’ll be giving up) for Ben Brown,” he said on AFL Trade Radio’s Late Trade.
“We’re finding this year that so many things are happening with different clubs, I think that (the deal) play out over the next couple of days.”
Mahoney said it was a significant coup that Brown, who has kicked over 60 goals in three of the last four seasons, had chosen Melbourne as his club of choice.
He said that after being made aware he was available, the Demons made it a priority to secure his services.
"It is really good that Ben Brown was able to nominate us,” he said.
“It was probably late in the year that it was known that he could be available, we think it’s a really important role for us.
“We’ve only just started conversations with North Melbourne, but hopefully we get that done in the next week and a half.”