"We kept going": Geelong's continued plays for Marshall and Curnow

AFL Trade has come and gone. Some clubs excelled in bolstering their rosters, other posted disappointing results.

We dissect the trade period, the winners and losers and bring you all the reaction from our talent.

12:20 - Geelong's continued plays for Marshall and Curnow

Despite failing to make a splash in the trade period, Geelong's efforts to land one of Charlie Curnow and Rowan Marshall were significant.

As list boss Andrew Mackie revealed, the club priorities Rowan Marshall - the St Kilda ruckman who nominated the Cats - as a first priority.

"We had a few goes at it," Mackie told Trade Radio.

"With our conversations with Steven Silvagni (St Kilda list boss), they seemed to pivot throughout the period.

"The opening day, they were open to hearing something, tried to find out what a deal looked like but they were a bit vague on that. Thursday, they said they weren't trading him, but once a club commits to your footy club as Rowan did, we wanted to see that out and make sure we had a good crack at him.

"We kept going up until the deadline, and unfortunately it wasn't able to happen. These things happen when you've got contracted players. It is a big chance that that is the way it plays out, but not through a lack of trying."

Pick 19 was on the table, what do you feel changed in that period?

"That's a good question. You'd have to ask the Saints, whether they were doing it at all throughout that period, or what their intention was. We were clear on ours, and they would have been clear on our intention to bring Rowan in."

What was the best offer in the end?

"It was a good deal. Well, we think it was a good deal! It just felt like in the end they had made their mind up, they weren't trading him no matter what. We offered up more than we thought we were going to. It's unfortunate that it didn't happen for Rowan."

Did you weigh up another play for Charlie Curnow?

"Yeah we did. Once again, with a player like Charlie, when you feel like you are a chance, you want to try and have a go at that too.

"We spent a lot of time on both of those players. You have always got to be ambitious in your thinking and how you go about these things.

"We look back and know that we did have a crack, fell short, Charlie gets done to the Swans so good luck to him. We did keep discussing that right up until last night."

11:59 - Henry Hustwaite not enough to "shift the dial" in Merrett deal

Essendon CEO Craig Vozzo has spoken on the failed deal between Zach Merrett and Hawthorn.

The final deal offered to the Bombers contained Pick 10, Pick 22, a future first-round pick and Henry Hustwaite, which was promptly turned down prior to the 7:30pm deadline.

"We talked very openly around how Zach is a champion of our club," Vozzo told Trade Radio.

"He is someone that we had very high value on, in terms of retaining him in our club and using every effort to do that. It was very specific, and we made that clear from day one, as the clear objective.

"Our position was, number one - to retain Zach. No doubt at all. Out of respect for Zach, he expressed his view around a preference to get to Hawthorn, which he made clear early this week.

"We had discussions and certainly those discussions involved mature players. No (players other than Henry Hustwaite were offered). We received from a timeline perspective, the first contact we had from Hawthorn was about 30 hours before the deadline, with a first and final offer which had a seven hour deadline.

"Without in any way demeaning Henry, he is a very good footballer, but he wasn't going to shift the dial in the context of this transaction."

11:35 - Swans list boss dives into Charlie Curnow deal

Sydney list boss Chris Keane has lifted the lid on the internal discussions surrounding the Charlie Curnow deal.

Curnow landed at the Swans, along with Pick 31, Pick 42 and a 2027 second-round pick, in exchange for Will Hayward, Pick 11 and two future firsts.

"It was pretty frantic towards the end," Keane told Trade Radio.

"I think both parties were holding firm and holding the line on what they were willing to give up.

"At the end of the day, we reached common ground with that 2027 first going in the mix and us being able to protect ourselves in this years draft and also add some protection back in 2027.

"I think at the end of the day, we came together pretty late in the piece and found something that worked for both parties and got the deal done, which was great.

"It's hard to put an exact timeframe on it. It was probably towards the back end of the year, without being too specific.

"When there's a calibre of player like Charlie Curnow that potentially has an interest in joining your footy club, that's our job and my job to explore that as much as we can.

"Ultimately, we were able to get it over the line and get him to the footy club which is really exciting for everyone involved.

"Certainly our supporters and members should look forward to what he can do out on the SCG next year."

Was the third first-round pick the selling point?

"I think that's fair to say. They were pretty consistent with their messaging in needing those three first-round picks.

"They also required some players as well, which was the message we got out of them the whole way through.

"We had a pretty strong line as well, as far as what we were willing to go to.

"At the end of the day, the ability to reach common ground and for us to grab some assets in the form of picks this year and picks in the future shored up the deal.

10:13 - St Kilda explain Leek Aleer withdrawal

After chasing GWS defender Leek Aleer for several years, St Kilda shockingly pulled out of what appeared to be a relatively straightforward deal with the Giants within the final week of trade period.

With a lucrative deal on the table for Aleer, the Giants defender requested to join St Kilda, however the Saints opted against trading for the out-of-contract Giant, blindsiding Aleer following multiple meetings and offers out of Moorabbin.

Speaking on Trade Radio, St Kilda CEO Carl Dilena revealed the details as to why the deal fell through.

"It was disappointing from our end," Dilena told Trade Radio.

"It's one of those really challenging situations you face as a leader or as a group, where the goalposts shifted.

"We had to pivot, and unfortunately, the way the facts change, we knew we weren't going to be able to satisfy GWS, so we thought the best thing to do was to hit that straight up, rather than dragging it out to 7:30pm last night.

"Not all deals get done, as we've seen, and we thought it'd probably be better for him if we gave his manager the opportunity to see if he could find another home.

"We also knew full well that he had a contract offer from GWS, so he wasn't going to go hungry, he had a guaranteed position already.

"It was a tough call, but we tried to do it with respect. We knew we were going to have a media pile-on, that's just what happens and you cop that.

"We've moved on, he's got a contract with GWS, he is in a good spot and we have managed to sort out our list.

"I think it's worked out well in the end, and we just have to move on, cop a whack and just keep going."

Was there any thought of taking him to the pre-season draft?

"It was more that it made us pivot and look at plan B, and the depth of our list. We debated it pretty heavily, as to whether we could see it on that basis or not.

"Ultimately, when you are juggling list spots and availability as well as a whole range of other factors, it pushed us in a certain direction.

"It's finished in a good spot."

Did Jack Silvagni coming in affect the trade?

"It did. There was depth added by Jack.

"If you're thinking of this as a two to three year plan, Jack came into the equation very late. It did change the dynamic if you look at the depth of our backline versus other spaces in our list.

"It certainly did shift the dynamic just a little bit. We still thought going into trade period that we would take Leek Aleer."

9:30 - Giants' list boss on Clayton Oliver deal

GWS' list boss Jason McCartney has spoken on securing the deal for Clayton Oliver.

The Giants parted ways with a future third-round pick in exchange for the 2021 premiership star.

"You go into this period, and you do need to keep a real open mind and be quite nimble in the way you approach this," McCartney told Trade Radio.

"We were unaware until it was broken on Trade Radio, that that meeting occurred with Trade Radio. The next couple of hours, I was speaking to Clayton's manager to get an understanding of where it all sat.

"We were quite fortunate that Clayton had pre-arranged a trip (to Sydney) two or three days prior. We jumped into action pretty quickly and were able to arrange a meeting to get the ball rolling with trying to get Clayton on board and obviously facilitate a trade."

Despite the deal stagnating until the final day, the contents of the trade were far from the issue, but rather the amount of Oliver's existing contract that the Giants were willing to cover.

"I really only had discussions once with Tim Lamb once Clayton agreed that he wanted to come and join the Giants.

"Around that, all it was was 'this is the pick we have, and this is what we are prepared to do'. I know Melbourne had a lot going on and were pretty active, so ultimately the negotiation was more myself, Nick Gieschen (Oliver's manager) and Paul Connors (Connors Sports Management) about, 'this is what we can pay'.

"That's really the (only) negotiation part. Once the meeting occurred with Clayton and Melbourne a couple of weeks ago, they knew then what they were doing, and they didn't have any real strength in this negotiation."

8:30 - Carlton a "better" team following Curnow trade

Carlton's Chris Davies has revealed why the club decided to agree to a deal involving Charlie Curnow.

Given the superstar forward was contracted with the Blues until 2029, Carlton were far from obliged to complete a deal with any suitors despite Curnow's trade request.

Sydney offered up a significant package, featuring Will Hayward and three first-round picks, which Davies and the Blues contingency accepted and formatted in the final minutes of the window.

"I think that we all said through the period that if things were going to change, it was going to need to be a significant deal," Davies told Trade Radio.

"We wanted Charlie to be a Carlton player into the future. Charlie made it clear throughout the trade period, and before that even, that he was wanting to leave our footy club.

"It was our responsibility to have a think about what we thought is best for out footy club, both in 2026 and long-term. I'm pleased with the outcome, really pleased.

"Across the ground, I think we are better."

Essendon renamed Alcatraz?

Hawthorn's failure to get the Zach Merrett trade over the line prompted some interesting social media commentary from Blake Hardwick and other players as the trade deadline ticked over on Thursday night.

Despite Merrett's insistence he wanted out of the Bombers and Hawthorn's apparent willingness to do as much as they deemed possible to secure the deal, Essendon stood their ground as they had since the first hint of a possible trade.

Ever since it emerged that Merrett had met with Sam Mitchell to discuss his future, Essendon were resolute their captain was going nowhere, and, now that he will have to stay, Hardwick took to social media to compare the Bombers to Alcatraz jail.

Alcatraz refers to the tiny island in San Francisco Bay which was once the location of a maximum-security federal prison.

Posting an image of the Essendon logo, Hardwick then added an image of the prison which closed in the 1960s.

It attracted reactions from other players with Nick Watson commenting "not wrong" before Jack Ginnivan added laughing emojis.

The initial post of the club logo was deleted.