Essendon general manager of football Josh Mahoney wants coach Brad Scott to speak to Aaron Francis before he commits to a Sydney move.
While it’s widely believed that Francis will get to the Harbour City before the trade deadline closes on Wednesday night, Mahoney wants to give Scott “an opportunity” to speak to the former top-10 pick before a deal is struck.
Although the list boss conceded that Francis has expressed his desire to play for the Swans, he hopes the club's newly appointed coach can convince him otherwise.
“It is looking that way, I know Aaron has expressed he’d like to look at that opportunity (to be traded to Sydney),” Mahoney said on Sportsday.
“The tricky part is he hasn’t met Brad Scott yet at all.
“We want to make sure we get that opportunity as well.
“If that works out that Aaron wants to take that opportunity, we’ll look to do something with the Swans.
“But if not, we also want to make sure that Brad gets an opportunity to speak with Aaron as well.”
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With Francis likely on the way out, Mahoney described Essendon’s likely acquisition of Melbourne forward Sam Weideman as a “real positive” with his and midfielder Will Setterfield’s inclusion helping fill a list gap for the bombers.
“He is, that’s a real positive for us,” Mahoney said.
“We wanted to try and add some guys 24 or 25 years of age, as it stands now, we were probably going into next season as the youngest list in the AFL.
“To bring in two guys Will and hopefully Sam, if it gets done tomorrow, both have played 50 games of footy and come with some good experience that can play important roles we need to be filled in our team.”
If Francis does end up being traded to Sydney, the Swans expect it to come via a three-way trade between themselves, the Bombers and the Demons with Weideman headed to Tullamarine.