CARLTON is on Wednesday night considering its options in regard to its next move for Jack Martin, with the club weighing up whether it pursues the Gold Coast speedster through the NAB AFL Draft or the Pre-Season Draft.

The Blues were left empty handed following a disappointing Telstra AFL Trade Period deadline night, failing to secure moves for their biggest targets in Martin and Tom Papley.

TRADE HUB All the latest news

The club included pick No.9 in a bid for Papley, but was told the clever forward would not leave unless Sydney secured a deal for Essendon star Joe Daniher. Meanwhile, it refused to budge on its offer of future second and third-round picks for Martin.

"We always knew (the Papley deal) was going to be difficult," Blues list boss Stephen Silvagni said.

"A lot relied on the Daniher deal to go through … we were told, pretty much from the start, that if the Daniher deal didn't happen that it would be highly unlikely that Tom would get to our football club."

Sydney later confirmed the club's hard-line stance on the contracted Papley's future, saying it opted to keep the small forward after realising it couldn't meet Essendon's valuation of Daniher.

"Tom was almost the flipside of the Joe discussion," Swans footy boss Charlie Gardiner said.

DONS TO 'FIGHT LIKE HELL' Essendon hopes to keep Daniher past 2020

"As you know, Tom is an extremely valuable player. He was our leading goalkicker last year and, as a club, we weren't prepared to lose a player of his calibre without being able to replace him.

"Unfortunately, we weren't able to strike a deal that could see us replacing him, so we've held onto Tom and we're really excited about that and what he can do next year."

In addition to missing out on Papley, Carlton couldn't broker a deal with Gold Coast for Martin – despite the classy midfielder requesting a trade to Ikon Park last month.

The Suns wouldn't budge on their asking price of a first-round pick to be involved in any potential Martin trade, with the Blues refusing a late request for their pick No.9 to be involved in the deal while receiving Martin and pick No.15 in return.

INDICATIVE DRAFT ORDER Your club's latest picks

"They talked about future second and future third-round picks," Gold Coast list manager Craig Cameron said.

"What we've got to understand there is that we have a really strong hand in this year and next year's drafts.

"For us to trade someone of Jack's calibre, a trade coming in had to significantly change our position and improve our position. We just felt that didn't."


While the Blues are considering whether they make a play for Martin in one of the drafts, they could be beaten to the punch by the Suns if they opt to steal the player for no cost in the pre-season draft.

Gold Coast has pick No.1 in the pre-season draft and could claim Martin before Carlton, which has pick No.3.

"That's an option that we need to look at," Cameron said.

"I think we need to let 24 hours go by and for all of us to have a think about what we do going forward."

Rate your club's Trade Period

How did your club fare at the trade table?

You can use the form below to rate your club's Telstra AFL Trade and Free Agency Period out of 10. If you like, you can also have your say on your side's deal-making.

We'll publish the results and best responses on AFL.com.au on Saturday, October 19.

Form not working in the App? Tap here to open in a web view