Captain of Murray's TAC Cup premiership side, Klemke was expected to find a new home at an AFL club in the main pool – just like teammates Jack Ziebell (North Melbourne), Steele Sidebottom (Collingwood), Sam Wright (North Melbourne) and Caleb Tiller (Carlton).
Forward Tom Rockliff and ruckman Andrew Browne were other contenders forced to wait until the pre-season and rookie drafts on December 16.
However, Klemke is in the strongest position of the three with the Sydney Swans able to add him to their eligible rookie list, given he represented NSW/ACT in this year's NAB AFL Under-18 Championships.
"We thought Kade would be a good chance," Murray Bushrangers coach Phil Bunn said of the 18-year-old. "I was within half-an-hour of where he lives, so I dropped in and saw him [on Saturday] and made my way back to Wodonga where I went around to the Ziebells. It was a revolving door at their place, people coming and going all day.
"As I said to him (Klemke), it just means they haven't opened the front door and welcomed you in, you might just have to move and go around the side door.
"But as far as Tom (Rockliff) and others are concerned, it might just be a case of having to bide your time and work your way in the back door."
Bunn understood the Swans were meeting to discuss their rookie list early this week, but was yet to receive further word of their interest in Klemke.
But the club did commit to international rookies Michael Pyke (Canada) and Kyle Coney (Ireland) on Tuesday.
The Swans have until 10.15am on December 16 to nominate Klemke to the list, while the Brisbane Lions have the same arrangement with Queensland talent.
"Whether Kade is in their thinking for that sort of role, we don't know," Bunn said. "The opportunity has been given to him by Richmond with a spot on their primary list up for grabs. He's obviously pretty keen to do that.
"I think if Sydney were even to pre-select him as one of their New South Wales kids, being drafted by Richmond would overrule that position."
Richmond is one of six clubs with a selection in the pre-season draft, choosing to recruit just three players on Saturday – including former Bomber Tom Hislop.
Whether that place is meant for Klemke or he gets an opportunity as a rookie, Bunn believes the disparity isn't what it once seemed.
"It would be interesting to look at numbers of rookie-listed players now who do make it through compared to even the last 20 picks in the draft each year," he said.
"I don't think there'd be a lot between guys picked in the last 20 picks, compared to kids put on rookie lists these days."
Klemke started training with the Tigers this week.
