After failing to complete the trades of Joe Daniher and Tom Papley, Swans coach John Longmire has spoken out about his plans for the two in 2020.
Daniher was unable to complete a move to the Sydney Swans during the trade period after Essendon denied the deal they were offered.
Meanwhile, Papley requested a move away from Sydney back to Victoria despite having a multi-year deal with the Swans.
However, he will now stay in Sydney with the Swans unable to find a favourable deal for him.
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Longmire insisted that the club did everything they could to find Papley a move, even though they didn't want him to leave.
“We made it clear to Tom and his management that we didn’t want to trade him and said he’s a valuable player for us and so that’s the starting point,” Longmire told SEN Breakfast.
“As the process unfolded, we were working in good faith to see if something could happen and when it didn’t happen it was a matter of touching base again.
“Talking about it is pretty simple process, you just sit down and have a chat about it and get back into training and he’s got his shoulder he needs to rehab and get back in and get going.
“That’s just the way it goes, particularly with modern footy.”
Longmire was also coy about the Swans prospects of landing Joe Daniher next season after failing to land the forward this season.
Many AFL experts believed that Daniher would get to Sydney in this trade period, but the Swans weren't able to reach an agreement with the Bombers.
Essendon were praised by many members of the AFL media for their 'grinch-like' approach to making sure they got what they deserved for Daniher.
“Essendon obviously wanted some younger players that we had and we weren’t prepared to do that,” Longmire said.
“In the end, we went really to the last minutes of the trade (period), trying to work through how it could get done.
"But Essendon’s priority, because he was a contracted player like us with Tom Papley, was they made the final call.”
Longmire believes the Swans remain "open-minded" about reaching a deal for the two forwards in 2020, but that isn't their focus right now.
“At the end of the day, neither happened," Longmire said.
"A lot of work went into both discussions, but in the end, you just need to get on with the job at hand and that’s what we need to do."
The Swans finished 15th in 2019 and it was the first time they had missed finals in the decade.
In promising signs for the club, many of their young players have resumed training but they were joined by a fit and firing Lance Franklin.
Franklin returned to training early, keen to get a full pre-season under his belt after an injury-plagued 2019.
.@Buddy_Franklin 🙌🏾 #ProudlySydney pic.twitter.com/Fb6OOe1Bme
— Sydney Swans (@sydneyswans) November 4, 2019
