PORT Adelaide has not given up hope of retaining star onballer Shaun Burgoyne next season, says football manager Peter Rohde.

On Monday, Burgoyne informed the Power he would seek a trade to an unspecified Melbourne-based club during the upcoming exchange period.

But Rohde said the issue was “far from decided” and suggested the club was willing to play hardball and risk losing the out of contract vice-captain for nothing, if a suitable deal could not be reached.

“The Shaun Burgoyne decision has come as a bit of a revelation to us, but he’s got his reasons for wanting to go," Rohde said on Tuesday. "We’ll make sure we do the right thing by the club and at the moment Shaun’s a required player.

“This time last year [Sydney Swan] Ryan O’Keefe was going to move and the year before [Carlton’s] Bret Thornton was going to move. O’Keefe won the Swans' best and fairest this year, so we consider it far from decided.

“Clearly Shaun’s expressed a view that he would like to move, but we’ll have to go through trade week and see what unfolds before we know what the final outcome will be.”

In 2003, Port Adelaide found itself in a similar position when former onballer Nick Stevens expressed a desire to return home to Victoria.

The Power were unable to reach a deal during trade week and instead of bargaining with a rival club, watched Stevens go – without compensation – to Carlton with pick No.2 in the NAB AFL Pre-season Draft.

Burgoyne has already indicated a willingness to nominate for the NAB AFL Draft/Pre-season Draft if a deal cannot be reached in the exchange period.

But Rohde said he was prepared to call the premiership player’s bluff.

“We’ve heard players say that [they’ll take their chances in the draft] many times before. Some players move and some don’t,” Rohde said.

“I would suggest that’s a tactic that managers and clubs use all the time. You’re not going to say, 'I want to move, but I’m not going to go in the draft' because it doesn’t empower your ability to move.

“We’d have to wait and see what happens… but there’s no doubt the Port Adelaide Football Club is keen to stand by its principles.”

Burgoyne, who has played 157 games with the Power, was overlooked for the captaincy last year, but Rohde denied Dom Cassisi’s appointment as skipper was a reason behind Burgoyne’s desire to leave.

Rohde also dismissed money as an issue, saying the club had not even progressed to the stage of talking dollars with the All-Australian.

“We’ll certainly be talking to Shaun in the next few weeks,” Rohde said.

“Our playing group are already on the phone trying to make contact with him. We’ll be wanting to understand the reasons he wants to go and trying to explain to him why he should stay.”

Burgoyne has been linked to Hawthorn, but Rohde said the Power were willing to deal with whichever club showed the most interest in Burgoyne.

“We haven’t really considered Shaun’s worth yet, but I think our coaches and match committee rated him as the most important player in our team at the start of the year and nothing has changed from that,” he said.

“Shaun’s right up there with the best players in the competition. It’ll be disappointing if he leaves, but the bottom line is that he missed 13 games this year, so we played most of the season without him.”