Kelly and his Western Australia-based manager Anthony Van Der Wielen - a director at South Fremantle - have been monitoring the situation at Fremantle this year after refusing to entertain a deal with the Dockers last year despite their interest in the star midfielder. There remain widespread concerns within the AFL industry about the stability of the landscape at the Dockers. Although football department chief Peter Bell has rebuffed suggestions of a rift with chief executive Steve Rosich, Fremantle have a host of assistant coaches out of contract. Brad Hill is set to request a trade to Victoria, senior coach Ross Lyon is poised to enter the final year of his contract and list manager Mark Micallef’s job security has appeared shaky after it emerged that Bell had approached Adelaide analytics guru Binuk Kodituwakku about a role at the Dockers.

Kelly was non-committal about his future when he spoke publicly in Fremantle a fortnight ago as he attempted to maintain his focus on the upcoming finals series with the Cats. His Geelong teammates are understanding of the reasons that might lead him to request a trade home however they expect him to commit himself totally to the Cats' premiership tilt in 2019. Geelong and the Eagles' were unable to reach agreement last year after discussions centred around whether West Coast would trade picks 20, 22 and a future second-rounder for the man who is among the favourites for this year's Brownlow. North Melbourne is yet to discuss a contract extension beyond 2020 for star midfielder Shaun Higgins with Geelong showing interest in the contracted 31-year-old ahead of Kelly's potential departure. Higgins was All-Australian in 2018 and is considered one of the game's elite midfielders, blossoming late in his career after making the switch from the Western Bulldogs at the end of 2014.

On Tuesday, Higgins said he wasn't attempting to force the Kangaroos into giving him an extension beyond 2020, with the on-baller not expecting to discuss what lay ahead until his season is over in a fortnight. His manager Bruce Kaider, from One Management Group, described any discussion of a potential move as premature with Higgins still contracted to North Melbourne for next season. The Kangaroos return the support of longtime fan Dorothy Forth, who was the victim of a home invasion. Ben Brown, coach Rhyce Shaw, Shaun Higgins and Jack Ziebell were at the presentation. Credit:Justin McManus He also shot down speculation that Higgins had rejected an offer to extend with North Melbourne. "There have been no offers for us to accept or reject from the Kangaroos," Kaider said.

"Any other discussions are premature. What has been missed is Shaun is actually contracted for next year." Higgins will be a free agent at the end of next season under rules introduced for this trade period, which might tempt North Melbourne to consider trading him with clubs usually reluctant to give players on their list extensions beyond one season. However the Kangaroos will not have a football manager in place throughout the trade period with Brady Rawlings, who was poached from West Coast, on gardening leave until he begins in December while football manager Cameron Joyce has already declared he is departing at season's end, with more changes anticipated as a result of the club's review. List manager Michael McMahon has continued to deal with player agents despite speculation about his position. Loading The Cats are also understood to be continuing to monitor St Kilda midfielder Jack Steven, who kicked three goals in his comeback game for the Saints on Sunday after taking a break midway through this season to deal with mental health issues.