How Kinnear Beatson and the Sydney Swans won the AFL trade period
In the space of a week the Swans added Brodie Grundy, Taylor Adams and two premiership players to their list. List manager Kinnear Beatson takes us inside their trade period.
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The Swans’ active trade period came to a head on Wednesday with Brodie Grundy and Taylor Adams’ arrival within 30 minutes of each other.
The club has made no secret of their desire to be aggressive this off-season as they look to push for a premiership in the coming years.
List manager Kinnear Beatson explains their strategy during the trade window, goes into detail on the deals for Grundy and Adams and reveals the priority for the Swans going forward.
ROOM TO MOVE
The 2023 trade period has been the Swans’ most exciting in a decade since Lance Franklin landed in Sydney. The Swans have come away with Grundy and Adams on top of premiership winners James Jordon and Joel Hamling.
The Swans came into the fortnight with an unusual amount of flexibility. The retirement of three players in Franklin, Tom Hickey and Paddy McCartin, plus six delistings and the departure of Dylan Stephens to North Melbourne, gave them plenty of financial wriggle room.
“It’s a combination of everything,” Beatson said. “There were some restrictions placed on us with the Bud deal and not being able to trade in.
“We had also been fairly tight on the salary cap, so that’s always difficult to try and bring players in.
“The retirement of key players opened up the opportunity to be a bit more aggressive in this area. But also, to get two unrestricted free agents where we didn’t have to trade for them, a key defender and a young midfielder to replace Dylan Stephens, was a great get for us.”
In the space of one window, the Swans have equalled their movements from the past four trade periods – Aaron Francis (2022), Peter Ladhams (2021), Hickey (2020) and Lewis Taylor (2019).
It’s a signal of intent from Sydney with the club ready to give their talented youngsters the right pieces around them to thrive in 2024.
RECRUITING A PREMIERSHIP VICE-CAPTAIN
In a fortnight, Collingwood vice-captain Taylor Adams went from celebrating a premiership from the sidelines to getting his head around wearing the red and white in 2024.
The 30-year-old started his footy career in Sydney at the Giants before moving to the Pies. However, it emerged that his management approached the Swans during the finals for a move back to NSW and Sydney was able to land his services in exchange for pick 33.
The Swans have made no secret of their desire to recruit experience this off-season and with 206 games under his belt, Adams fits that bill.
“In this particular case, Taylor’s interest in looking elsewhere did occur very late,” Beatson said.
“It was around the grand final week when we first became aware of it. It wasn’t through frustration or an injury, it was just he was looking for more midfield time.”
With Callum Mills set to miss half of next season through a shoulder injury, Adams will move directly into the Swans’ best 22 at the start of the year.
The core of Sydney’s midfield who played in the elimination final loss to Carlton – Errol Gulden, Chad Warner, Justin McInerney, James Rowbottom and Braeden Campbell – are all 23 and under. Adams brings an immediate injection of leadership the Swans were never going to turn down.
ALL EYES ON BRODIE
Adams will be joined in Sydney alongside one of his good mates Brodie Grundy, who requested a move to the Swans last month.
The 29-year-old All-Australian ruckman played 17 matches for the Demons this year, but only appeared in one of their last nine games.
Despite some disagreements over what pick would get the deal done, Beatson said negotiations progressed quickly with Melbourne. The final deal saw the Swans give up pick 46 and their future second-round pick.
He also confirmed that Grundy’s existing contract arrangement with Collingwood remains in place.
“Things did come together pretty quickly (Wednesday) morning and early afternoon … it was great to have them all finalised,” Beatson said.
“(Grundy) will be great for our team. He’s got quite a personality and leadership, so he’ll be good on and off the field.
“We’ve just got a straight swap with Melbourne, so Melbourne isn’t contributing anything. We’ve got our own arrangement with Brodie and his management, so it’s a clean break if you like for both parties.
“What Collingwood has to contribute to Brodie and their manager, that’s their business. It’s got nothing to do with us.”
FOCUS TURNS IN-HOUSE
The Swans are now turning their attention to securing new deals for the likes of Errol Gulden and Logan McDonald after a busy start to the trade period.
Gulden and McDonald are two of a handful of players off-contract at the end of 2024 including James Rowbottom, Will Hayward and Ollie Florent.
Conversations with most of them have already started but with Sydney’s trade business all but finished, things will heat up in the coming weeks.
“The only thing that we’d be looking at (for the rest of the trade period) is whether there’s any potential change with selections in the draft,” Kinnear Beatson said. “We won’t be bringing any other players in.
“Some of the conversations (with off-contract players) have already started. Some of them are more advanced than others. We’ll increase the level of discussions with player managers from the end of October.”
McDonald in particular is generating plenty of interest from his home state of Western Australia, with Fremantle keen on his services.
Beatson is hopeful that the key forward’s love for Sydney will see him remain at the Swans.
“He’s tight with the other young players and seems extremely happy,” Beatson said. “That’s the only thing you can take at this stage.
“There hasn’t been any indication that he wants to move.”
UP IN THE AIR
Two Swans players whose immediate futures are still unknown are small forward Sam Wicks and premiership player Sam Reid.
Wicks emerged as a key part of Sydney’s best 22 since emerging through their Academy program. The local Manly boy is eager to extend his stay at the club and Beatson believes both parties are closing in on a new deal.
“That discussion is still ongoing, but we’d be disappointed if we weren’t able to reach an agreement with Sam’s management,” Beatson said. “That’s not too far away, so that should look after itself.”
At 31, Reid’s injury history has been the big question mark over his future. He missed the entirety of the 2023 season through a hamstring injury but has been training strongly in the back half of the year.
A decision on an extension will be made by the Swans when they have more clarity on the size of their list. However, it’s clear that if he stays it will be as a forward to help the development of McDonald, Joel Amartey and Hayden McLean.
“Now that the dust has settled with free agency and the trade period, we’ve got to look at list sizes and continue to assess how Sam is going with his rehabilitation.”
DRAFT PLANS
The Swans hold picks 12, 44 and 54 heading into this year’s draft, and it’s set to be a quiet night for the club.
While they’ll look to recruit an exciting talent with their first-round pick, the other picks could be used to match a bid for Academy talent or ignored entirely to focus on their rookie list.
Midfielder Caiden Cleary is the most exciting prospect out of the Swans’ Academy, but Beatson confirmed that no guarantees have been given to any of their players given the unpredictability of draft night.
“We’ll have to evaluate that on the night because you never know where a bid is going to come from,” Beatson said.
“You can run with 36-38 primary list players, so we’ll evaluate that with what the total player payments look like, what we’re able to do and make more of a decision then.
“What we will look at potentially is if we’ve got a space or two on the rookie list and what options are available there. Also, who’s still there from delisted players and where do our needs sit?
“But we’ll take a big breath and evaluate that as the draft approaches.”
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