AFL 2022: Brisbane Lions make two trades to bolster draft hand but how do they get the Josh Dunkley deal done?

It’s not just players moving as clubs swap draft picks to give them the hand they need to make key deals and one has gone down.

Josh Dunkley’s path to Brisbane is a lot clearer. Photo by Michael Klein

A pair of deals have bolstered Brisbane’s draft hand to match bids for two star Academy prospects but potentially make a Josh Dunkley trade even harder.

News Corp revealed on Tuesday the Lions were shopping pick 15 to rival clubs and found a trade partner in the Giants, who sent them No.21 and their future second-round selection in return.

The 2023 second-round pick is tied to GWS, an important distinction because the Giants also have Collingwood’s after trading small forward Bobby Hill on Monday.

Brisbane made the deal with a second trade in mind that was agreed upon later on Tuesday and seals Tom Berry’s move to Gold Coast.

The Suns handed back picks 25, 36 and 56 and also received the GWS future second-round selection, with the Lions ending up with almost 900 more draft points than what they started the day with.

The @brisbanelions and @GWSGIANTS have made a pick swap 🔀#AFLTradepic.twitter.com/0xShlJnwnx

— AFL (@AFL) October 5, 2022

The Lions need those extra points in this year’s draft to match early bids for under-18 All-Australians Will Ashcroft – the almost-certain No.1 pick – and Jaspa Fletcher.

Fletcher could attract a first-round bid as well, meaning Brisbane risked going into major points deficit for next year’s draft unless it brokered deals such as this one.

Clubs are allowed to go into deficit but the punishment is their top pick the following draft drops until the gap is made up.

The challenge now is how the Lions appease the Bulldogs for Dunkley, given it’s believed they want two first-round selections for him.

The closest they could come to that at the moment is 21 and a future first-round pick.

The Dogs want fair compensation for the 25-year-old, a 2016 premiership player who won the club’s best and fairest award this past season.

Josh Dunkley wants to play for Brisbane in 2023. Picture: Getty Images

“We really wanted to keep Josh and offered him a long-term contract that we thought was really compelling,” Bulldogs list manager Sam Power told Trade Radio on Monday.

“He’s a fantastic player … best and fairest winner and premiership winner at the club, but his desire is to get to Brisbane if he can.

“We’ll work in good faith with Brisbane to hopefully sort of reach an outcome.

“But with how highly we rate Josh and the player he is; we expect compensation for what he displayed this year and across his career.”

Gold Coast also traded pick 32 to St Kilda for Ben Long and a future fourth-round selection.

Meanwhile, the Giants are provisionally armed with four top-20 picks, given they already had the No.3 selection and added Richmond’s 12 and 19 in the Tim Taranto trade.

It’s an enormous haul to kickstart the club’s rebuild under new coach Adam Kingsley.

Originally published as AFL 2022: Brisbane Lions make two trades to bolster draft hand but how do they get the Josh Dunkley deal done?