Western Bulldogs general manager of list and recruiting Sam Power has stated that the club is open to offers for their first-round draft pick at this year's draft.
According to AFL Media's Callum Twomey, the reason behind placing this first selection (currently pick-17) up for grabs is so that Power find the best avenue to making sure father-son gun Sam Darcy makes his way to the kennel.
Following standout performances for the Oakleigh Chargers and Vic Metro, the son of former Bulldog and current Channel 7 commentator Luke Darcy is currently seen as a top three draft prospect.
Should a bid for Darcy come within this range, Power and the Pups only have the aforementioned first-rounder and a fourth-round selection (currently pick-72) to offer.
"We'll wait and see how it all pans out in the second half of the year and post championships where that sits. If it's what it looks like then clearly it would have to be a consideration for us to look at it if that was the best choice for the club," Power said.
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"We only have our first and our fourth [picks] given a couple of other trades last year so there's potentially some points considerations there that we went through last year to a degree as well.
"We've got time to assess all that and work that out and other clubs obviously will be assessing what they need to do."
If the Dogs do decide to part with their first selection to seal the deal, it will be the second successive season in which the ploy has taken place.
Last year, the Bulldogs traded pick-14 to Collingwood for the services of Adam Treloar and shifted their draft points around so make sure that Jamarra Ugle-Hagan would join the former Magpie in red, white and blue.
According to the draft expert Twomey, the Whitten Oval based side could also enter a points deficit situation to land Darcy, however, this would see their first selection in 2022 slide back.
Although clubs have travelled this route before, and Power claimed he was open to the option, it would almost certainly be seen as a last resort.
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"It all depends on the situation. Clubs have been into deficit before and clearly made very good decisions in what they did in the first instance that pushed them into deficit," Power said.
"The current system and rules allow clubs to do that. This year we haven't put any attention to that but in terms of last year we were really keen to cover the points in that draft with Jamarra and trading out pick 14 and then doing a later trade in the picks swap phase to cover the points in case the bid came at pick one.
"That was definitely our strategy last year to protect the 2021 draft as much as we could and cover the points which we were fortunate to do."
Twomey also raised the point that several current Dogs - such as Patrick Lipinski and Ed Richard - may be asked to find new homes during the trade period to allow for breathing room on draft night.
The 2021 AFL Draft is set to take place in November.