JORDAN Lewis was close to securing a deal with Melbourne for 2017 before Hawthorn backed down from trading the decorated midfielder on Thursday.

The initial approach came from the Lewis camp as a result of discussions between Lewis, the club’s vice-captain, and Hawthorn which has already chosen to trade out fellow four-time premiership player Sam Mitchell to West Coast.

Lewis’ management approached Melbourne to see if the Demons were interested in him joining the club for next season. Sources said a deal was “basically done” with the Demons before Hawthorn retreated.

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A source close to Lewis said the move is “not happening”. Late on Thursday there was speculation that the four-time premiership player was not happy with events.

The prevailing view at Melbourne is that the move is unlikely to go ahead given Hawthorn’s new-found reluctance to trade the team’s vice-captain. It appears that Hawthorn is less keen to move Lewis given the upcoming departure of Mitchell.

Lewis has spoken to the Demons including coach Simon Goodwin. Lewis chose Melbourne himself and is understood to view the club’s list and potential favourably.

The fact that Hawthorn initiated talks with Lewis and clearly raised the possibility of him moving is another remarkable sign of what the Hawks are willing to do to regenerate their playing list after going out in straight sets during the finals.

“There was an inquiry about Jordan, but he’s a contracted player and a required player,” Hawks list manager Graham Wright told the club website late on Thursday afternoon.

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Lewis had been one of the leading candidates to be the club’s next captain after Luke Hodge departs Hawthorn. The Hawks have already acquired Tom Mitchell from Sydney and are still trying to trade for Jaeger O’Meara from Gold Coast in what is a major overhaul of both their midfield and the playing list as a whole.

Mitchell will be traded to West Coast for what is expected to be a later draft pick or possible an exchange of picks. Mitchell is happy to leave and will take up a coaching position once his playing days with the Eagles have ended.

The Hawks have also signed free agent Tyrone Vickery from Richmond but their greatest challenge is to satisfy the Suns in what has been a vexed negotiation regarding O’Meara.