Brisbane CEO Greg Swann fears James Frawley's looming departure from Melbourne could unwittingly hamper the Lions' ability to complete a trade for Collingwood star Dayne Beams.

At present, the Lions are only prepared to give the Magpies pick No.4 in this year's AFL draft in exchange for Beams.

But if, as expected, Frawley leaves Melbourne as an unrestricted free agent, the Demons' compensation looks likely to be a pick directly after their first-round selection.

That would mean Melbourne would have picks two and three at the 2014 AFL Draft which would then bump the Lions' from pick four to five.

Swann doesn't think pick five would be enough to satisfy the Magpies and he doesn't think Frawley is worth such generous compensation.

"We need to keep pick four because Melbourne have done a really good job of trying to sell the world that they'll get pick three for James Frawley and that pushes us back to five and that has a little bit of an effect on our ability to trade as well," Swann told AFL Trade Radio.

"I know 'Roosy' (Melbourne coach Paul Roos) said everyone he speaks to thinks that pick three is a fair pick (for Frawley) but we certainly don't and we would have thought an end-of-first-round (pick) would be the best for James. It has a big impact on us.

"We're talking pick three – it's a massive pick in a draft. I would have thought that would be reserved for top, top-echelon players.

"We'd just like to think that it wasn't just a standard fait accompli that James gets pick three because there's a whole lot of stuff that goes into it and obviously it has an effect on others around where Melbourne's pick is."

Swann said it wouldn't be appropriate if the AFL gave the Demons pick three as compensation for Frawley just because it knocked back their application for a priority pick last week.

Part of the league's decision was based on the fact that Melbourne would 'receive a compensation pick if they lose any players to free agency'.

"That was obviously a commission decision," Swann said of Melbourne being denied a priority pick.

"The guys who make this determination (on the compensation for Frawley have to take into account) a whole lot of parameters (such as) length of contract, amount of money, what the player's standing is in the game and all those things.

"Just because you didn't get compensation (in the form of a priority pick) do you need to get overcompensated here? I would have though it's two different things."

Swann ruled out the possibility of the Lions protesting if Melbourne did receive pick three for Frawley.

Meanwhile, the former Carlton boss all but confirmed Brisbane was out of the running to win the signature of disgruntled Essendon ruckman Paddy Ryder.