Sydney Swans Head of List Strategy Chris Keane spoke to AFL.com.au's Cal Twomey and Riley Beveridge on Continental Tyres AFL Trade Radio on Thursday.
On Nick Blakey
"Clearly there's been some speculation about Nick over the last probably couple of weeks, safe to say. And, look, we're working through all that with his management group at the moment. But as I said Monday, from our perspective, he's a contracted significant player for our footy club and that hasn't changed."
On whether the club was aware he was meeting with other clubs
"No, it's actually not something we were made aware of outside of what's been reported online. But what I'd say is I think we do understand the current landscape in regards to players exploring opportunities and how that's probably shifted over the last few years in particular. But ultimately, he's contracted for five more years at our footy club for a reason."
On whether Blakey has made it clear he wants a tradeÂ
"We haven't heard that directly from Nick himself. But clearly there's been some speculation around all that over the last couple of weeks. But what I'd say is I'm talking to Robbie, his manager, constantly and we'll keep those conversations behind closed doors."
On whether the club is open to looking at a tradeÂ
"Well, I think as we sit here right now, these are all hypotheticals and it's certainly, what I would say, it's certainly not something we've actively pursued. And we feel confident that he could walk back into our footy club. But given the calibre of player that he is and the fact that he's contracted for five more years, we feel like making any deal happen would be challenging."
On whether the club expects to be active in the trade period outside of Blakey
"No, look, we probably went into this period, with a focus on retention and that place hasn't changed and won't change. We were pretty active last year in the trade period, bringing in, obviously, Charlie and Jai Serong and Malcolm Rosas. And I think you often see that when a club's pretty active one year, they're typically a little quieter the following year. So that'll be the case with us."
On Dane Rampe's future
"He's away at the moment so I think he'll likely make that decision over the next few weeks. He's been in, obviously, had good conversation with Coxsy and the coaches around what that looks like. But we'll hear from him probably in a couple of weeks."
On Harry Cunningham's future
"Harry's working through his options at the moment. He's got an offer on the table from us and I think he's got a little bit to work through. So again, I'd expect we'll know a little bit more around that one over the coming weeks."
On whether the forward line is well stocked, given Joel Amartey's departure
"Yeah, I think so. I think we're, obviously, we had a five-year deal on the table for Joel and our intention was to try and retain him. But given he has left, we are comfortable with what's there. I think we've got, obviously, those three guys (Logan McDonald, Charlie Curnow and Hayden McLean) and the development and growth of Logan, in particular, over the final series was really encouraging. And we understand he's a high draft pick that's got a pretty high ceiling. And I think you can throw Peter Ladems in that mix as well. We've seen him play forward and ruck as well, so we feel like he can add to that mix. And also young Liam Hetherton, who we took in the draft last year, makes up that group. So we're comfortable with the range of players that we've got in that area of the ground."
On Chad Warner and Tom McCartin
"Yeah, we've probably got a number of out-of-contracted players next year, which we'll work our way through. I think, specifically with Tom and Chad, we're constantly talking to their management groups and that's no different to any other player on our list. You're sort of talking 18, 24 months ahead of when they come out of contract. So we'll work our way through that. We've continued to have those conversations and we'll continue to do so over the summer, most likely."
On the QBE Sydney Swans Academy prospects
"Mason (McGroder) tested really well, as we thought he would. But as you touched on, he's had a great year in terms of his long jump, representing the country at the U20 World Champs which is an unbelievable achievement. And he's clearly still got some growth in his football journey, but he's one that's obviously pretty exciting. And we had Henry Meaney and Jake Medved also attend the state combine in Victoria last week. Both great young men, and we'll see where they sit.
We've had a number of other boys represent the Allies as well. So it's always a tricky one for us to assess in terms of where they are in the national pool. And ultimately, it's probably up to our opposition to determine that at the end of the day."
On the growth of the club's young players this season
"Yeah, well, again, you could probably throw Will Edwards in there as well, who got some really good exposure down back. I think that's probably the silver lining in the challenges we've had towards the back end of the year.It was rather to give opportunities to those boys that you mentioned and to be able to play and contribute in meaningful finals is significant for their development and their growth. And they head into this preseason upcoming knowing what it's all about and knowing what finals footy is all about. So we're really excited about that group (8:04) and others that are coming from underneath"
