Dane Swan says Collingwood cannot afford to lose Travis Cloke, but he would not begrudge his Magpies teammate leaving for a multi-million dollar deal.

The powerful forward has been linked to a long-term $1 million a year offer from Fremantle, with Greater Western Sydney expected to be willing to provide a similar lure.

Dockers coach Ross Lyon has refused to confirm Cloke, who becomes a restricted free agent this year, is top of the Dockers’ wish list, but admitted on Wednesday the club wants a player of his type.

“Talent identification is through draft, trade and free agency, and a power forward sits within that model,” Lyon said.

Swan said the Magpies would be severely weakened, but Cloke would go with his blessing if he took the cash.

“He is our most in-form player and, in that respect, not a player we can afford to lose,” Swan said in Sydney on Wednesday at the launch of a youth mentoring program.

“However, I would never begrudge him leaving for that kind of money.

“You only play AFL for a short period of time.

“It’s not going to be forever.

“If he wanted to set himself up for life and go for that kind of money, good luck to him and I hope he goes well.

“But we certainly want him to stay because, without him, we wouldn’t be nearly as good as we are.”

Under the terms of the AFL’s free agency policy, which begins this year, Cloke would be free to leave, unless the Magpies matched a rival’s offer.

Salary cap constraints involved in retaining premiership stars, including Brownlow Medallist Swan and Norm Smith Medallist Scott Pendlebury, would make that near-impossible, meaning Collingwood would have to settle for compensatory draft picks.

But Magpies president Eddie McGuire questioned whether the reported offer was really as much as speculated.

“Everyone gets all excited. There’ll be 15 more of these (stories) through the year,” he said on Triple-M radio.

The Dockers’ desire for greater forward firepower was illustrated when they were on the verge of signing ex-Brisbane forward-ruckman Mitch Clark in the off-season, before being trumped by Melbourne.

Former Collingwood forward Jack Anthony has failed dismally since crossing to Fremantle two years ago, while Kepler Bradley has struggled to hold his position up forward for any length of time.

Lyon said Fremantle’s recruiting staff had been long planning to capitalise on the arrival of free agency.

“Clearly, they’re trying to identify opportunities within the market and work within the bounds of the AFL policies of that,” the Dockers coach said.

“We started a list-management process four years ago when we were paying maximum salary cap and finishing on the bottom. Since then, it’s been four years of drafting and a lot of youth brought in.

“I mentioned that Carlton took 10 years to get to their position from when they were bottom in a similar position and I said we don’t want to take 10 years to do that. We’re in a hurry.”

North Melbourne coach Brad Scott expected free agency to have a much greater effect on fringe players moving than stars.

“I’d be very surprised if those top 10 players on your list leave under the free agency rule,” Scott said.

“Clubs generally keep the players they’re desperate to keep.”