A veteran seeking to be just the sixth 300-game player in AFL history to change clubs after reaching the milestone should not cost the earth, even one as decorated as Ablett.

Hawthorn champion Sam Mitchell effectively cost West Coast pick 88 during the last trade period in an exchange that suited both clubs, while Luke Hodge will soon move from the Hawks to the Brisbane Lions with a minimum of fuss.

By that measure Ablett's return should cost anywhere between pick 40 and 60 as the 33-year-old's reasons for returning to Geelong are family-related and he will take a pay cut.

But several circumstances make this transaction one of the more complicated and unique trades in recent seasons.

It's a "conditions-based'' trade rather than one that can be assessed in the usual manner.

The Suns don't need to win the Ablett trade; they just need a net outcome during this trade period that is positive.

That's why Geelong and Ablett are taking more than a passing interest in which club the Cats' free agent Steven Motlop decides to join this week.

If the free agent chooses Gold Coast, he will make Ablett's passage to the Cats less rocky.

The Suns would not only have a player of substance to replace Ablett, but the reigning best and fairest's departure would be a positive for the Suns as it would clear salary-cap space for Motlop.

The two clubs could even agree to formulate a trade based on Motlop joining the Suns and Ablett joining the Cats - as Geelong and Adelaide did when Patrick Dangerfield changed clubs - and the matter would be settled.

New Suns coach Stuart Dew met Motlop on Tuesday in the hope of persuading the 26-year-old Cat to join the Suns instead of heading to South Australia to join Adelaide or Port Adelaide, who both hold appeal.

If Motlop decides while having a break in Darwin to join one of the Adelaide clubs, then the hunt to satisfy the Suns' conditions in order to get Ablett would continue.

No one begrudges the Suns' need to make such demands as the timing of Ablett's departure does not suit them in the way Mitchell's departure suited Hawthorn.

Ablett is leaving a club that needs ready-made players to gain traction in the AFL under Dew, after finishing 17th on the ladder this season.

In contract, Ablett has already been paid upfront part of what he was entitled to in his third year.

Although the Suns receive some advantage in paying their star upfront in 2017 as it gives them salary-cap space to wriggle in during 2018 they argue, quite reasonably, they would have achieved the same result by paying someone else upfront.

So the Suns want recompense in form of a pre-paid player but settled Cats have not been lining up to move from the surf coast to the Gold Coast, although reports that Jackson Thurlow knocked back an offer from the Suns is not true, while Mitch Duncan, Nakia Cockatoo and Jake Kolodjashnij are not for sale.

So the champion veteran, who has played 15 games or less in the past four seasons, and the club where the surname Ablett is most famous, waits, not for Godot, but for the equally elusive Motlop.

As does Geelong's marketing department, with paraphernalia relating to Ablett's return ready to celebrate the prodigal son's return.

Players who switched clubs after 300 games

Doug Hawkins, 350 games (21 games for Fitzroy 1995)

John Rantall, 336 games (six games for Fitzroy 1980)

Drew Petrie, 332 games (16 games for West Coast 2017)

Sam Mitchell, 329 games (22 games for West Coast 2017)

Paul Salmon, 324 games (15 games for Essendon 2002)

Gary Ablett, 302 games heading to Geelong

Luke Hodge, 305 games heading to Brisbane Lions