It would be a dangerous path to tread, so to speak, but that is the extraordinary possibility some of the game's leading voices were discussing on Monday night as the Dangerfield-to-Geelong story developed further into preliminary final week.

Fairfax Media's chief football writer Caroline Wilson reported on Monday that the Adelaide superstar had told his close friend and football boss David Noble in August, before the club's unexpected finals campaign, that he was planning to leave the club.

But the conversation surrounding the biggest move of the trade and free agency period has escalated further with the suggestion that Dangerfield could potentially nominate for the national draft as a means to getting to his preferred destination, Geelong, for nothing - if it indeed came to that.

The possibility, albeit an unlikely one, arose from reports that Dangerfield is apparently determined to ensure Geelong does not have to give up too much to secure his services, although giving up their first-round selection (presumably) in the draft would be significant.

Doing so could potentially affect the Cats' chances of rising back up the ladder next year and beyond, something Dangerfield would have a strong interest in should his wish to return to his home city be granted.

As it stands, Adelaide would be compensated with a first-round draft pick tied to their ladder position in 2015 if they let their franchise player walk to Simonds Stadium as a restricted free agent.

However the Crows also have the option of matching whatever offer Geelong put to the 25-year-old, thus forcing the Cats to enter trade negotiations to complete the deal.

That scenario is where Dangerfield playing hard ball with the Crows, rather than the other way around, has emerged as a possibility.

To ensure the Cats do not have to part with a potentially valuable player, draft pick(s), or both, the out-of-contract Dangerfield could theoretically nominate for the national draft, telling the football world that he won't play anywhere else except for Geelong.

The danger, of course, would be that one of the eight clubs currently with a pick before Geelong in the draft - Carlton, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Essendon, St Kilda, Melbourne, Collingwood and Greater Western Sydney - could call the midfielder's bluff and match the price he puts on his head.

"You're telling me that Geelong won't strike a deal, they will say 'this will be the price', he goes into the national draft and then eight other clubs are going to have the chance to get Patrick Dangerfield?" proposed Garry Lyon, speaking on Channel Nine's Footy Classified.

"All these clubs are going to go, 'oh, well, he wants to go to Geelong, let's let him go'?".

Lyon, a Fairfax Media columnist, called it an "extraordinary risk", and was certain that his former club Melbourne would match the unofficial offer being floated.

"Melbourne would pay $800,000 for five years in a heartbeat," he said.

"Here's the cheque, come over and we will sort it out."

Lyon said he thought a fair deal would be the Crows giving up Dangerfield in exchange for the Cats' first-round draft pick (currently no.9) and was surprised that the All-Australian would take such a stand.

"That flies in the face of most other players. They try to help the club on the way out, make it palatable," Lyon said.

However there is a counter-view that Dangerfield was not being unreasonable, given other clubs who have lost players at the same level to free agency – Geelong with Gary Ablett and Hawthorn with Lance Franklin – were only compensated by the system.

Former Essendon great and fellow Fairfax columnist Matthew Lloyd said he believed "it won't come to that" in relation to the "Danger Draft" scenario.

"It is always argy-bargy at this time of year. But how often do we see the 2pm deadline comes [on the last day of trade period] and clubs get it done?" he stated on Footy Classified.

Moving away from what might happen, Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley said what had happened up until now - the handling of the issue by Dangerfield, Adelaide and Geelong - had been done "as well as it could possibly be" in the circumstances.

"It's obviously a synergy between respect for the club he is with, a mutual respect back to the player and then an understanding that nothing is forever and 'this what I am planning to do'," Buckley said on Fox Footy's AFL360.

That Dangerfield had committed so much to Adelaide's finals run and performed so admirably despite knowing he would be leaving the club was a credit to his professionalism, Melbourne coach Paul Roos said.

Still, the Demons coach maintained the view he first expressed when Lachie Henderson told Carlton he was going to leave before the end of the season - that is, he would not select any player who had informed the club he was not going to be there the following season, be it Dangerfield or anyone else.

However Roos also acknowledged this situation was different to Henderson's - for neither Dangerfield nor Adelaide made public the knowledge that the decision had been made – and therefore that made the Crows' decision to play their star playmaker far easier.