Western Bulldogs coach Brendan McCartney has ruled out trading Ryan Griffen in a bid to secure this year's number one draft pick.

McCartney admits he "wouldn't mind" snaring a key forward in the off-season to help bolster his side's attack.

Burly Victorian youngster Tom Boyd is the hot tip to be selected with the first pick in the NAB AFL Draft, but to get access to him the Dogs would have to negotiate a trade with the holder of the No.1 selection, likely to be Greater Western Sydney.

However the coach has ruled out using star midfielder Ryan Griffen as trade bait.

"I don't think we'll quite play as well without Griff, do you?" McCartney said on Wednesday.

"There's a lot of talk about forwards in the paper at the moment, and the young Eastern Ranges boy who's getting so much written about him, and he hasn't even been drafted yet or played against men. There's a lot of things to play out yet."

"It's a bit early for us to be talking about our list strategy and our list management."

McCartney believes inexperience is the real Achilles heel for his forwards, and their struggles are a byproduct of what is happening across the field.

"We've got a lot of young forwards, and more than any other part of the ground young forwards will fluctuate and have inconsistencies.

"They usually occur when the team's not playing that well, in terms of moving the ball, and they're playing on more seasoned defenders."

The Western Bulldogs have already been linked to Essendon forwards Scott Gumbleton and Stewart Crameri.

"We are no different to any other club, looking for ways to get better," McCartney said.

"There's three ways to get better with list development, that's free agency, the trade and the national draft."

Jacqui Reed is a reporter with AFL Media. Follow her on Twitter @JacquiReedAFL