Star midfielder Lachie Neale has become “extremely frustrated” with Fremantle as the reason behind the Dockers and Brisbane’s trade impasse is revealed.

However Lions head football David Noble remains confident a deal can be struck between his club and the Dockers, who are keen for Brisbane to up its original offer of just Pick 5.

The two clubs’ inability to strike a Neale deal early is consequently holding up other big potential trades involving the likes Suns skipper Steven May and Melbourne star Jesse Hogan.

Herald Sun reporter Jon Ralph told Fox Footy’s The Trade Lowdown on Tuesday night that the two clubs were in a holding pattern over a deal for Neale, who asked Fremantle to be traded to Brisbane despite being contracted to the Dockers until the end of 2019.

“The issue is Fremantle not only want Pick 5 for Neale, they also want a mid-teens pick from Brisbane that Brisbane just doesn’t have,” Ralph told The Trade Lowdown.

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“Freo want to pass that mid-teens pick on to GWS for Rory Lobb — GWS are not asking for the world for Rory Lobb because, of course, that salary cap relief. But Brisbane only has Pick 22 — as well as a pick in the 50s — and they don’t want to give it up and they don’t believe they should give it up and they need it (to get Bulldog) Marcus Adams anyway.”

Ralph said there was “lots of anger behind the scenes”.

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“Lachie Neale, under no circumstances, will be playing at Fremantle next year,” Ralph said.

“He’s extremely frustrated, (I) feel like there’s an impasse there that he’s not there for the right reasons and maybe he might just come out and say that in the next couple of days.”

Noble said both the Lions and Dockers were “keen to try and get something done earlier rather than later” for Neale, but couldn’t put a time frame on the trade.

He remained adamant the Lions would work hard to secure the dual best and fairest winner’s services.

“We certainly won’t do negotiations publicly, but we’re confident we can get the deal done. We’ve got enough armoury to get the deal done,” Noble told Fox Footy’s The Trade Lowdown.

“It’s great Lachie has clearly selected us to come to our footy club. We’re really excited, but there’s a bit of work to be done with Freo.

“We’ve got a number of areas at our disposal. Trade value isn’t necessarily about picks either — it’s about allowing other clubs to get deals done.”

Noble added that he was confident the Lions could land Adams, despite the Western Bulldogs’ tough stance on the contracted defender.

“We’ll work hard to get that deal done,” Noble said.