Beware the Swans, they must be concocting something big.

That's what the footy world was thinking ahead of this year's NAB AFL Trade Period, with established players Dan Hannebery and Gary Rohan on the way out and taking significant salary cap space with them.

But once the bell tolled on the annual player meat market, where some of the game's biggest names like Dylan Shiel, Steven May, Dayne Beams and Lachie Neale found new homes, the Swans appeared to have missed their chance.

So why didn't one of the competition's most successful clubs of the modern era, a club highly regarded for its culture and environment and coached by one of the League's best, get involved in any major trade activity?

The departure of Hannebery and Rohan, and already-retired big man Kurt Tippett, gave them ammunition to chase a high-profile recruit, but after an unsuccessful offer for Collingwood's Tom Langdon, North Melbourne's Ryan Clarke and Geelong's Jackson Thurlow were the only players to join the Swans.

Sydney's head of football Tom Harley told AFL.com.au his club decided to put faith in its list.

"To be honest, we were never hunting a big name," he said.

"We absolutely back our list in and we're constantly looking for ways to improve it.

"We clearly had an interest in Tom Langdon, but he chose to stay with Collingwood.

"I think when you look at list management strategy there's obviously acquisition and retention, and the Trade Period is all about acquisition, but we had a focus throughout the year on retention.

"Jake Lloyd re-signed just before the Trade Period, on top of Aliir Aliir and Sam Naismith and the like during the season, which we were really happy with.

"We went into the Trade Period with specific needs in mind, and Ryan Clarke and Jackson Thurlow were trades that we were able to facilitate, and those guys can fill a similar role to the one we tried to satisfy with Langdon across half-back.

"I can understand the appetite of people following their club through the Trade Period and thinking that what goes out must come back in, but it's not all about that."

It makes for an interesting 12 months for Sydney and there's sure to be massive intrigue around how - or who - it attacks during the 2019 Trade Period, with the club set to be in prime financial position to attract an opposition star to the harbour city.

"You keep all those options open," Harley said.

"Looking forward 12 months, we start our planning for that time now around what we can do within the confines of the salary cap, and what specific needs we might have."

The Swans' trade plan this year also centred around ensuring they had points in the bank to secure their Academy graduate and blue-chip prospect Nick Blakey, son of Sydney's head of development and former Fitzroy and North Melbourne defender John.

Blakey isn't the player to drag Sydney into premiership contention in 2019, but he's another quality talent to add to the already-stacked list of emerging Swans under John Longmire.

In players like Isaac Heeney (22 years old), Callum Mills (21), George Hewett (22), Aliir (24), Will Hayward (19), Zak Jones (23), Tom McCartin (18), Oliver Florent (20), Lewis Melican (21), Tom Papley (22), Ben Ronke (20), Matthew Ling (19) and Ryley Stoddart (19), the Swans have a group of players under 25 capable of forming the core of Longmire's team for the next decade.

Then there's club champion Lloyd, who is 25, and dual best and fairest winner Luke Parker, who is about to turn 26.

Some will say Sydney's list hasn't improved significantly enough to improve their ladder position next year, but what does 2019 look like for the red and white?

Superstar forward Lance Franklin, Kennedy, Parker, Lloyd, Dane Rampe, Heeney and the rest of the big names are sure to have their usual impact, but a return to the top four and even another finals berth is hard to imagine unless the next tier of Swans can wrestle some of the responsibility away from those established stars.

Can Jones become a consistently disciplined onballer?

Can Mills take his courage and poise to the midfield and be an instant success?

Can Hayward and Papley increase their output to become 40-goal forwards and ease the scoring load on Franklin?

Then there's the gifted and athletic, but injury-ravaged Sam Reid.

At his best he's a talented tall forward who can pinch-hit in the ruck and swing into defence if needed, but he's played 23 games in the past three seasons, and 22 of those were in 2017.

Can he be relied upon to be Franklin's foil? If he can, it's happy days for the Swans.

But if he can't, the burden falls to McCartin, who competed with vigour in 15 games this season but was cooked by the time the finals rolled around, and Callum Sinclair, who thrived as the number one ruckman in 2018 in Sam Naismith's absence.

Mills, Naismith and Melican also missed plenty of footy in 2018 so getting them healthy is also a priority.

The Swans' best 22 can compete with any team in the competition next year if fully fit and firing, but as we know – just look across town to Greater Western Sydney – rarely is a club graced with a perfect run on the injury front.

Is there enough depth to keep Sydney ahead of the pack if it loses one, two, or several of its irreplaceable stars?

On paper it doesn't seem so, but we've doubted Longmire and his club before.

Whatever happens on the field next season, you can bet the Swans will be off the bench when the 2019 Trade Period opens, and with veteran Kieren Jack likely to retire, they'll be even more cashed-up and ready to make moves.