Executive General Manager of Football, Charlie Gardiner spoke to Continental Tyres AFL Trade Radio earlier this week (Monday, October 3, 2022) as the official AFL Trade Week begun, providing updates on the Sydney Swans activity over the next fortnight plus comments on Jake Lloyd and Tom Papley’s re-signings and updates on some of the Swans uncontracted players.
View the key quotes below.
Activity over the trade period
We don’t think we will be all that active in the trade period at this stage.
It certainly can be unpredictable but it doesn’t look like we will be all that active. We are probably in a retention phase and at the moment, we are focused on investing further in the young players we have brought in over the last 3-4 years and we are really confident in that group.
I can’t see us being overly active at this stage in the trade period but we will look to get involved if we can to improve our draft hand. That is something we might look at over the course of the week but at this stage can’t see ourselves being overly active.
Jake Lloyd extension
We are really pleased to have Jake extended for the next three years. He is an outstanding player and a general of our defence and he really sets us up in the back half. I know he has enjoyed working with some young guys in Nick Blakey, Justin McInerney, Robbie Fox and Ollie Florent more recently and he will play a key role for us in the next few years.
Tom Papley extension until the end of 2028
We are thrilled to have Tom recommit and we should probably mention Callum and Isaac in the same vain, who are elite talent at our club and have committed for the long term and it’s something we are really 4excited about.
Tom has clearly established himself as a premium small forward in the comp, and the way he has approached his footy over the last 18months-2 years has been exceptional, along with the way he has embraced the club and what we are doing.
He has been a huge catalyst to the development of our young team, brings huge energy, and it’s a real positive sign for the club and our young group who are very close and committed and are all pretty confident in the direction we are heading.
A lot of thinking goes into them and these players are important parts of the future and big pieces of the puzzle that you want to get locked away and build your list around so there is a fair bit of thought that goes into it.
Updates on Ryan Clarke, Harry Cunningham
We are talking to Ryan Clarke’s management. He has shown the ability to play a really important role for us across the back half of this season so we are in talks with him but nothing to report as yet. We will continue to have those talks over the next week or so.
We are hopeful Harry will accept the deal on the table. Harry has been an important part of our squad for a number of years and has been a bit unlucky this year due to injury and the fact that we had very few changes to the squad in the back end of the season.
We are optimistic we will get something done and we are in talks with his management so hopefully that progresses over the next week or two.
Updates on Sam Naismith, Ben Ronke, James Bell and Lachlan McAndrew
Lachlan McAndrew is actually contracted through to next year so he is not out of contract.
The other guys, we haven’t made calls on and we will have to weigh up our list needs and list opportunities once we get through this trade period so we won’t make decisions on those guys for a little while yet.
Listen to the full episode in the audio player at the top of this page.
