MELBOURNE has locked in a meeting with delisted Magpie Sam Murray next week as plans for its list transformation continue.

The Demons have long been among the keenest parties in Murray since Collingwood informed him he wouldn't score a contract for 2020.

AFL.com.au also reported Greater Western Sydney, Richmond and North Melbourne as other clubs to have demonstrated interest in the 22-year-old defensive dasher.

He is eligible to resume training with an AFL club on November 17 and can play from February 17 as he serves an 18-month ban for cocaine being detected in his system in a match-day test last year.

Melbourne's Murray catch-up follows the club's meeting this week with ex-Docker and Sun Harley Bennell, who has interest from six AFL clubs still fascinated with his upside despite his injury history.

It is unclear whether the Demons will pursue both Murray and Bennell, the latter of whom would be signed as a rookie in the pre-season supplemental selection period.

Murray is also more likely to be a rookie-list addition if he is to join a third club, after time at the Swans and Pies, rather than a delisted free agent, which would place him on the primary list.

Melbourne already has four Category A rookies – Kade Chandler, Kyle Dunkley, Jay Lockhart and Corey Wagner – and can have a maximum of six if the club has only 38 players on its senior list.

The Dees already have 35 and are set to use three or four selections in this month's NAB AFL Draft, headlined by picks three and eight.

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If that number reached 39 then they would be able to have just five Category A rookies.

Melbourne traded for Fremantle's Ed Langdon and signed free agent and ex-Giant Adam Tomlinson, as well as sending Sam Frost to Hawthorn in the exchange period.

Murray played 13 matches for Collingwood last year and earned a NAB AFL Rising Star nomination, while Bennell's played 83 games in total but just two in the past four seasons.