The Sydney Swans fulfilled the objectives they set out to during last week’s trade period according to senior coach John Longmire.
Callum Sinclair and Michael Talia came into the club during the two week exchange period with Lewis Jetta returning home to Western Australia and Craig Bird seeking further opportunities with Essendon.
Longmire said the club’s list was in a strong shape heading into next month’s National Draft.
“We went into the trade period with a couple of clear objectives. We looked at a couple of areas on our list with one being the ruck and the other on the key position area,” Longmire said.
“We are really looking forward to getting Callum in to strengthen our ruck division particularly with Mike Pyke retiring.”
“Michael Talia is also a welcome addition after he played a fair bit of senior football this year with the Western Bulldogs who had a great year.”
Talia will be looking to expand on the 14 matches he played for the Bulldogs during 2015 as he develops his game alongside premiership defenders Ted Richards and Heath Grundy.
“He can help really strengthen up our depth in the key defensive positions, we have some guys at that end of the ground who have been fantastic servants and we hope they will continue to be,” Longmire said.
“The reality is we needed some more depth in that area and we believe Michael can play some really good solid football for us.”
Longmire paid tribute to premiership midfielder Craig Bird who joined Essendon as part of a three way trade with St Kilda and the Bombers.
“We spoke to Craig Bird at the end of the season and said that if there was an opportunity that presented itself for him to play more senior football then we would do whatever we could to help him get to the club of his choice,” Longmire said.
“He started the season really well but with the increased form of Tom Mitchell, Luke Parker and Josh Kennedy it meant next year we weren’t certain of what that might look like.
“Craig is a premiership player and welcome back at this football club at any time he likes but I am sure he will go on to bigger and better things at the Essendon Football Club.”
Watch part on of an extensive post season interview with John Longmire above on SwansTV.