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Gold Coast CEO Mark Evans suggests Carlton did not pursue Jack Martin with much intensity during the trade period.
The Suns and Blues could not come to an agreement over the out-of-contract 24-year-old who is determined to get to Ikon Park this off-season.
Evans admits a deal wasn’t done due to a lack of compensation offered for such a promising player and says the situation surrounding Martin remains unclear.
“I think it’s an awkward situation when you can’t conduct a trade in trade period,” he said on SEN Breakfast.
“There are some other options that exist these days once trade period is finished but none of those have come to light.
“We simply didn’t do the trade because we didn’t think it was the level of compensation that we required. We had pretty good discussions with Carlton early and they understood that.
“But we felt that they didn’t exactly chase that very hard across trade period as they were wrapped up in other things.
“So that will play out now. There’s still a week to go and the options are still there.”
Evans also touched on the likelihood of the Suns re-drafting Martin in the pre-season draft.
He added: “It’s a possibility. Whether it’s probable or not…
“I don’t think that there’s a lot to be gained sometimes by forcing someone to stay against their will.
“But there’s still a conversation to be had and a list management decision to be made before we head into draft.”
Gold Coast hold picks 1, 2, 15 and 20 in the early stages of next week's National Draft and Evans says the potential to obtain another high selection remains possible.
“Particularly with the Jack Martin trade, we were hopeful of upgrading one of those picks so we would still be looking at that if there were opportunities to do that,” he said further.
“I know our recruiting department have discussed that and there is a player or two that they’d love to get into but I’m not sure where those discussions are at right now.”
Listen to Evans on SEN Breakfast below: