The men at the centre of the stand-off between Essendon and Sydney over Joe Daniher’s trade request have revealed why they were unable to seal the blockbuster deal.
Daniher will be forced to see out the final year of his Bombers deal after the two clubs failed to agree to terms before the AFL trade period ended on Wednesday night.
Essendon list manager Adrian Dodoro told reporters the Swans’ unwillingness to include at least one Sydney player in the deal ultimately ended the negotiations.
“They’ve got their reasons for what they did, we had really respectful discussions throughout the whole week (but) in the end our philosophy was we wanted a player to be part of this and they couldn’t see their way around it,” Dodoro said.
MORE: AFL trade news 2019: Full list of trades for each club at conclusion of trade window
“And we respect that, and they respect what our wishes were and we’ve shaken hands and we move on.”
Pressed on whether the Swans ever offered the fifth pick in the 2020 AFL draft as part of a package for Daniher, Dodoro replied: “Five wasn’t on the table.”
He added when asked to reveal Sydney’s best offer: “They put (pick) nine and a future first (round pick) to us.”
Sydney football manager Charlie Gardiner confirmed the Swans did not offer their No.5 draft pick in exchange for Daniher.
“We went into the negotiation with what we thought was an attractive draft hand,” Gardiner said.
“We were open minded about what a selection of picks might look like to satisfy Essendon.
“We were open to exploring a number of options or arrangements but in the end it was made pretty clear to us that pick five and pick nine, or two first round picks, wasn’t going to be enough.
“So really it’s a bit moot now that we weren’t able to satisfy Essendon with draft selections.”
Gardiner added when asked if the Swans will attempt to sign Daniher again when he becomes a free agent at the end of 2020: “We’ll revisit it in 12 months and see how we go.”
Dodoro revealed Daniher was ‘a little bit disappointed’ a deal wasn’t reached and refused to rule out re-signing the star forward.
“Joey’s a free agent next year and we’re going to fight like hell to retain him but if we’re in this position in 12-months time that’s the nature of the game and you have to accept it and move on,” Dodoro said.
“But having said that we’re really confident that we can provide the environment for Joey.
“… We absolutely love him and we think he’ll have a great year next year.”
Daniher has kicked 188 goals in 104 games for Essendon.
But the 2017 All Australian has managed just 11 appearances in the past two seasons due to a chronic groin injury.
