Ryan O'Keefe headed the list of players who had publicly stated their desire to ply their trade elsewhere, but ended the week exactly where they started thanks to a general unwillingness by clubs to part with draft picks.
The strong talent pool in the coming NAB AFL Draft was the driving force behind that mood, which was only heightened by the onset of draft concessions for the 17th and 18th teams from next year.
In the same boat as O'Keefe were North's Daniel Harris, Eagle Mark Seaby, Bomber Andrew Lovett and Fremantle's Josh Carr and, if past trade weeks are any guide, there would have been plenty more that would have quietly been happy with a change of scenery if the opportunity had presented.
Carlton and Hawthorn made serious bids for O'Keefe and while both foundered for different reasons – the Blues couldn't come up with the picks and the Hawks had salary cap issues – the end result was the same.
"We weren't able to consummate a deal with Sydney for Ryan, so we made the choice to move on," Hawthorn general manager of player personnel and strategy Chris Pelchen said.
"We weren't going to trade just for the sake of trading and we maintained all week that any deal we did with Ryan had to be within the parameters of our TPP (Total Player Payments) model.
"I think we've maintained that integrity across the week with the whole playing group."
Carlton was successful in its bid to secure Fremantle ruckman Robbie Warnock, but that left the club with little room to manoeuvre in satisfying the Swans' demand for high draft picks for O'Keefe.
"Our concentration was on Robbie with pick 24 and we weren't going to give up pick six," Blues coach Brett Ratten said.
"We thought if we could get that deal done early in the week we might be a chance but it never happened."
O'Keefe and Carr, who are uncontracted, now must decide if entering the pre-season draft is a viable option, while Harris, Lovett and Seaby and their respective clubs will need to mend some fences.
