Peter Ladhams' manager John Meeson says the deal between Sydney and Port Adelaide for the ruckman was off with just 30 minutes to go in the AFL Trade Period, before negotiations eventually kickstarted and got over the line.
Ladhams was the last deal done on Wednesday night, Sydney receiving the 23-year-old and pick 16 and sending pick 12 and a future third-round selection to the Power in return.
He was one of the bigger names of a notably quiet 2021 trade period, and Meeson said he’d been aware for much of the year that his client might move clubs.
“We were certainly very happy to get Peter over to the Sydney Swans, it was a bit of a curly one considering he was contracted, but all’s well it ends well,” Meeson told SEN’s Whateley.
“There was certainly some open and honest conversation in that exit meeting … (Port Adelaide list manager) Jason Cripps and I had been speaking for the best part of 12 months about how that was going to look.
“Heading into that exit meeting, it didn’t feel like there was a preparedness for Port Adelaide to want to do anything, that was made pretty clear to me months earlier.
“I wasn’t in there so I can’t comment specifically, but the message was to Peter that he felt like his future wasn’t at Port Adelaide, so I had to get to work to canvass the market to find another opportunity for him.”
He revealed just how close the deal came to falling over, saying he had to push Swans list manager Kinnear Beatson and Cripps to get back on the phone to one another.
“I got a text from Kinnear Beatson at 7 pm saying the deal had fallen over, and I didn’t want that to happen because I felt like we were really, really close,” Meeson said.
“It was certainly a push from my end to get the two back on the phone.
“It was certainly on a knife’s edge.
“Then Kinnear about five or six minutes later said that the deal had been agreed upon.”
The Swans were understood to have an interest in Ladhams for the majority of the trade period, but only managed to do the deal with less than 20 minutes remaining until the deadline
Meeson confirmed the clubs were haggling over future selections associated with the trade, causing the hold-up.
“Basically, that’s right,” Meeson said when asked if the future third-round selection from Sydney ultimately got the deal done.
“There were a lot of different situations and scenarios thrown up by both clubs, so I felt like we were going in the right direction.”
Ladhams will support Swan Tom Hickey in the ruck and also spend time in the forward line.