Carlton and Essendon are standing firm on Charlie Curnow and Zach Merrett, adamant their contracted stars are going nowhere during the AFL trade period.
Geelong and Sydney are interested in Curnow, who became frustrated at the Blues this season and would like to move out of Melbourne for lifestyle reasons.
But the two-time Coleman Medal winner is contracted to the end of 2029 and Carlton football manager Chris Davies expects Curnow to remain in navy blue next year.
"The club's made it really clear that from our perspective Charlie's got four years on a deal and we expect him to be at Carlton for those four years," Davies said when the trade period officially opened on Monday.
"I don't think it's going to be helpful for me to go into hypotheticals about (a trade offer) right now.
"But it's fair to say that from our perspective Charlie's got a contract for the next period of time and there's nothing that has come to us that would have us reconsider that."
Essendon were blindsided last month when captain Merrett, who is contracted until 2027, met with Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell.
The 30-year-old has since admitted feeling "a bit of shame" over the situation and last week won his sixth Bombers best-and-fairest award.
"It's been an interesting little period but nothing's really changed," Essendon list manager Matt Rosa said.
"Clearly Zach has been gathering information and, as we've stated as a club, Zach's a champion of our football club and he's a required.
"Conversations are ongoing though and there's been really good dialogue between Zach and the club, but yeah, Zach will be an Essendon player next year."
Merrett is yet to formally request a trade.
"If he does, nothing will change from our end and Zach's fully aware of that," Rosa said.
"He's a contracted player and he's at the age where we still feel like he's got plenty of football left to play."
The Curnow and Merrett sagas are expected to drag on through the trade period, which closes on October 15.
Melbourne stars Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver, Brisbane premiership pair Callum Ah Chee and Brandon Starcevich and St Kilda duo Rowan Marshall and Jack Steele are other big names under the spotlight.
Troubled star forward Jamarra Ugle-Hagan is set to leave the Western Bulldogs after a tumultuous year of off-field problems, with Gold Coast interested.