Luke Beveridge admits every club’s “antenna” goes up when valuable free agents become available but has declined to elaborate on the Western Bulldogs’ pursuit of Jack Silvagni.

A third-generation Carlton player, Silvagni is weighing up a move away after meeting with the Blues’ fiercest rivals Collingwood and Essendon.

The Bulldogs also have strong interest in the 27-year-old to rectify some of their defensive issues.

When questioned about Silvagni, Beveridge didn’t want to be caught up in the same situation that engulfed Craig McRae last week.

The Magpies coach was criticised by his friend and former Brisbane Lions teammate, Carlton counterpart Michael Voss, for openly discussing meeting with Silvagni.

“I think with any free agent like Jack, every club’s antenna is up,” Beveridge said on Thursday.

“But I’ve always maintained the line of not talking about who we’re chatting with behind the scenes, just purely out of respect for our playing group.

“Some of our lads still uncontracted, they don’t need to be thinking too much about who might take their spot.

“And also probably out of respect for someone like Jack ... in that he’s got to spend time at his current club, if he is planning to move on.”

Beveridge mentioned he couldn’t be called a “hypocrite”, referencing his discussion of Gold Coast star Matt Rowell.

Prior to Rowell being officially confirmed to be staying at the Suns earlier this year, Beveridge spoke about how he had tried to woo the star midfielder.

But when making those comments, Beveridge already knew Rowell would be staying at Gold Coast and the Bulldogs’ pursuit of the former No.1 pick had failed.

“Everyone knew that we had met with Matthew because he was thinking of coming back to Melbourne,” Beveridge said.

But Beveridge made a strong plea to keep swingman Buku Khamis at the Whitten Oval.

Khamis’ manager this week spoke about exploring his options as he is desperate for a more permanent role at AFL level.

The 25-year-old has played 14 games this season, the last two coming more than a month ago when he was used as the sub.

Khamis told AAP earlier in the year he saw himself as a defender, but has been used more up forward this year.

“We meet a lot of beautiful people in life, but he is one of the great people, Buku Khamis,” Beveridge said.

“We’d be saddened to lose him.

“He has become an influential player.

“The balance of our team, playing one more key position player at the moment, our sort of current ideology is that’s not going to suit what we want to do.

“He is contracted (for 2026), so we’re not going to want to lose him.

“If he’s the next picked key position player at either end, it’s very unlikely we’re going to want to let him go.

“We’ll continue to work through that with him.”