THE SYDNEY Swans and Adelaide have made little progress in working out a deal for Kurt Tippett on the first day of the Gillette AFL Trade Period.

The clubs met for preliminary discussions before the trade period officially kicked off at Etihad Stadium on Monday, but respective list managers Kinnear Beatson and David Noble are set to hold more detailed talks away from the media spotlight.

"We caught up early this morning, and to be open, we didn't catch up today during the discussion [period] because we thought it was probably better to be done off-line," Swans chief executive Andrew Ireland said.

"There was really no discussion specifically about players, draft picks or anything like that - it was more about how we best accomplish trying to complete a deal given the obvious interest that's going to be in it.

"It's really been left to Kinnear Beatson and David Noble to get together. They're the guys who know the worth of the draft picks and what the two clubs are trying to achieve.

"They will spend some time together and try to get a deal started, but at this stage that hasn't happened."

Ireland didn't rule out involving other clubs to get a deal done for the 25-year-old forward, which he said would not be enforced by the so-called 'gentlemen's agreement' clause that would require the Crows to get Tippett to the club of his choice.

"People keep talking about an agreement - to my knowledge there isn't any agreement in his contract that says that he must be traded for a certain amount [of compensation]," Ireland said.

"The only thing I would say is we've got a history of being able to finalise deals. We're hopeful that we can do that again."

Ireland said the gentleman's agreement was more an informal understanding that Adelaide would look sympathetically on Tippett's wishes if he decided to leave at the end of his current contract.

The Swans' chief executive is hopeful of not involving any premiership players in any deal to get Tippett to Sydney, but didn't rule it out.

"We've got no blanket rules, but we'd certainly hope that none of our premiership would need to be involved in a trade," he said.

"We won't know until the deal is done I guess."