Errol Gulden, Logan McDonald highlight key group of Swans out of contract at end of 2024

The Swans have a host of young guns on the rise and established players needing new deals, but list guru Kinnear Beatson isn’t panicking ahead of a big year of negotiations.

The Swans are confident they are in a strong position to keep the majority of their off-contract players ahead of a big year of negotiations.

Several Sydney stars, headlined by the likes of Errol Gulden and Logan McDonald, are in the final season of their deals in 2024.

McDonald has already been linked to a potential move back to his home state of WA, while demand in Gulden has never been higher after his top-five finish in last year’s Brownlow count.

Along with stalwarts of the club such as James Rowbottom, Ollie Florent and Will Hayward, the club is facing a balancing act to lock them all away beyond this year.

List manager Kinnear Beatson said while discussions will ramp up on the eve of the new season, the club hasn’t received an indication that any of the players want to move on.

“Those things tend to look after themselves,” Beatson said.

“We’ve got some good players out of contract, but we’ve got a lot of good players in contract. So it’s a good place to be.”

Kinnear Beatson says his club is in a good spot. Picture: Michael Klein.

The ideal scenario for the Swans would be for players to put pen to paper on longer, multi-year deals with the club.

Nick Blakey led the charge of buying into the side’s future, signing a seven-year contract extension last June. With so much excitement around the young core of John Longmire’s team, there is a hope that potential could be the deciding factor when it comes to players weighing up their options.

However, the Swans are also set to be cautious with the length of contracts they hand out to all players and will closely examine early-season form to find the best middle ground.

The club expanded on their young talent during the off-season with their three main draft picks, Will Green, Caiden Cleary and Patrick Snell, all impressing across their first few months in red and white.

Green in particular has been the talk of backroom staff with the young ruckman’s agility at a high level given his size and strength.

Nick Blakey has already committed to the Swans. Photo by Phil Hillyard

“The feedback from the coaches is they’re already seeing things from him in training drills where they’ve just gone, ‘Yeah, there’s something to really work with here’,” Beatson said.

“Through a change in the rules now and being a top 20 pick, he’s contracted for three years. So there’s plenty of time, there’s no rush with him.

“They’ll be able to sort of pick and choose a little bit how many games he plays and nurture him through. But he couldn’t have two better people than Dean Cox and Brodie Grundy to help him through this.

“He was about the 90-91kg mark, so he needs to get up to about 100kg which we think will take about a year and a half. His body has already changed, but we think he’ll adapt to that pretty quickly.”

The most exciting thing for Beatson is the balance in the squad after they were also able to add Brodie Grundy, Taylor Adams, Joel Hamling and James Jordon.

It meant the post-season turned into a busy one for the Swans and their recruiting team. But the upside is they have an array of players who will make the team both better now, and in the future.

Brodie Grundy is one of the new faces in Sydney. Photo by Phil Hillyard

“Over the past two years we’ve lost a lot of experience and usually when you lose experience, there becomes more money available in your total player payments that you can go and attract other players in,” Beatson said.

“We haven’t had that luxury for a while. So this year, we were, and then a few things just fell into place.

“James was always a Swans supporter from Yarrawonga, he and his mother. So he was keen to look at a change. We really liked him as a junior and from what I’ve heard his form has been pleasing in the match sims that they’ve done.

“He’s been at a club that’s been playing finals, part of a premiership team. So whilst he’s only played about 60 games, he’s still quite experienced and young. So it’s a good get we think.”