Host of SEN’s Time On Sam McClure is reporting that Joe Daniher recently met with Sydney CEO Tom Harley.
The report suggests that Daniher flew to Sydney to have a private meeting with the Swans chief executive.
Essendon was aware of the meeting taking place and McClure believes they were comfortable with it given the two are friends.
However, McClure said the Swans are a “cunning” club and you can’t rule out this meeting being something more than just friends catching up.
“To provide some context to it, one is that Joe was in Sydney also seeing his surgeon, the follow up from his groin injury, the same surgeon who is based in Sydney who did similar surgeries on Lance Franklin and also Daniel Menzel,” he told SEN’s Whateley.
“He also had lunch with Tom Harley who is a long-term friend and also a mentor of his since the AIS days in the under 15s.
“He’s contracted until the end of next year with Essendon. Essendon were aware of the meeting before it took place, but with Joe Daniher not a fan of the Melbourne footy bubble, he’s played 11 games in the last two seasons and with Sydney looking for a long-term replacement for Lance Franklin, those facts cannot be ignored.
“I think they (Essendon) were comfortable with (the meeting). I think they know the relationship that Tom and Joe have. Sydney are very cunning like this.
“We’ve seen it before. Andrew Ireland famously had lunch with Lance Franklin at his house before his now infamous move to the Sydney Swans.
“Everyone was in denial about the Dan Hannebery deal last year. When (Fremantle CEO) Steve Rosich was asked about the interest from Brisbane about Lachie Neale, he laughed it away.
“Clubs are all going to deny it and say they’re very comfortable with it, but there’s no doubt in my mind that there’s interest there from the Sydney Swans.
“I think they’re tracking him and they’re very willing to trade their first pick – which at the moment looks like it’ll pick four – I think John Longmire is wanting to be very aggressive in getting players from other clubs.
“Now, I’m not saying Joe Daniher is leaving Essendon, and I don’t think he’s unhappy at Essendon, but if you’re being tracked by a club like Sydney, where of course the Daniher’s have history in Sydney, he famously chose Essendon over Sydney as a 16-year-old when he had the option as a father-son to choose either, so there’s an existing link between the two and it will be a fascinating one to watch play out.”