With Shaun Burgoyne announcing he wants to leave and play for Hawthorn, we've been trying to manage a way to get that deal done that works for all three parties – Shaun, Port Adelaide and the Hawks.
Initially, Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson saw me at the AFL Coaches' Association awards night, so we had a catch-up there and talked about what the outcome might be and the need to get it done early.
We walked away thinking it made sense.
When we next caught up it was in our club groups, some standards have to be met in terms of where you want to go with the trade and who you are looking at. In the Hawks' case, they'll talk about the players they're prepared to release.
Unfortunately at the moment none of the players they offered were the ones we want. We are not on the same page.
When I was at the NAB AFL Draft Camp last week, I talked to some of the other clubs to get an indication of whether we're being realistic in our request.
Historically we have handled trades vastly differently, we took first, second and third round selections for Josh Carr, who was a vice-captain of Port Adelaide and had won a premiership at a good age.
On the other side of it, we've let Nick Stevens walk through to the draft. He wanted to go to Collingwood at the time, but was picked up by Carlton in the NAB AFL Pre-Season Draft with us getting no compensation. Only Carlton won in that trade.
I've known Hawthorn list manager Chris Pelchen from a long way back and he would be aware of similar previous trades.
Shaun Burgoyne is a vice-captain, premiership player and All-Australian and in my reckoning, I don't think there are too many players in the AFL who can dominate forward, midfield and back like he can.
Hawthorn has No.9 in the draft and this year's it's the equivalent to pick No.14 or No.15, because there are no 17 year olds. This year they are not eligible due to the upcoming concessions to Gold Coast. So these picks are not quite the same value as in the past.
This has to be taken into consideration when negotiating.
We've also spoken to St Kilda, Essendon and I know Paul Roos is keen to get Shaun to the Sydney Swans.
So with trade week about to start, the deal is still up in the air.
Shaun won't answer his mobile phone for almost everyone, so it's impossible for some of the clubs to talk to him. We had to get his older brother Peter to ring him, which has made this a very long process.
Essendon list manager Adrian Dodoro is trying to talk and meet Shaun – clubs will go to great lengths these days in recruiting players.
And this is just one trade we're talking about – every club is trying to achieve two or three trades – you can never just focus on one exchange, because history will show so many fall over.
After the draft camp ended last Friday, I flew back to Adelaide and met a potential recruit there. Many phone calls have also been made to other potential recruits – fishing, fishing, fishing, trying to land a big one. Nine of our 2004 premiership team were recycled players.
I rang Jordan Lewis to see what he is thinking. Jordan and I go back a long way, we interviewed him a day before the 2004 draft. Over the years, we've passed each other in airports and he was very aware how keen I was to draft him back then.
We've talked about what might have been, but I would be thrilled to have him now.
As it stands at the moment, nothing involved in the Burgoyne deal is clear.
We'll wait and see how the week unfolds. The plot thickens.
