The Sydney Swans are reportedly under a huge amount of salary cap pressure and will struggle to keep key players heading into 2022, according to SEN Chief Sports Reporter Sam Edmund.
John Longmire’s team have been one of the surprise packets of 2021 with their climb up the ladder, however it appears there will be action at the trade table if they are to meet salary cap requirements.
Edmund told SEN's Crunch Time Sydney is facing a battle to re-sign several key players.
“They are under enormous salary cap pressure,” he said.
“Luke Parker, Dylan Stephens, Jordan Dawson and Sam Reid and a few others are all trying to be re-signed.
“Player managers and list managers are saying the Swans are really battling to shuffle the deck chairs and make the pieces fit.”
Parker is chasing $700,000 a year for four years, while Stephens isn’t thrilled with the current contract on the table, according to Edmund.
The situations surrounding Dawson and George Hewett also appear complicated.
“Jordan Dawson has publicly said he really wants to stay but that was four, five, six months ago, that hasn’t happened,” Edmund said.
“George Hewett is the one most likely to leave out of all of them given the Swans have just shown no inclination to start talks on a contract with him.
“That could change, he is a restricted free agent, but at the moment everything points to him making way given this squeeze (on the salary cap).
“They’ve got this massive hurdle from a list management point of view, to give themselves the best chance in the next two to three years they’ve got to get through this.”
Parker won his third Bob Skilton medal earlier this week, while Dawson finished third in the best and fairest count.
Sydney were eliminated from the 2020 AFL Finals series after a one-point loss to the Giants in Tasmania last Saturday.