The AFL Trade Period has kicked off today with AFL clubs descending on Etihad Stadium for the first day of negotiations.
There are a number of high profile players from across the competition rumoured to be on the move, while Carlton will be looking to get the best possible deals for Lachie Henderson and Chris Yarran who have indicated they would like a start elsewhere.
Carlton’s Head of Football Andrew McKay says he doesn’t expect to see too much movement on day one, with the clubs using their first meeting to sound each other out.
"It’s a very formal process,” McKay said.
“We get 15 minutes each with every club. There’s a bell that rings at the end of that 15 minutes and the away team, which is the team that visits you, gets up and goes to the next box.”
.@CarltonFC's Stephen Silvagni has arrived. The @NAB AFL #TradePeriod kicks off very soon! pic.twitter.com/5PDm5wa1dl
— AFL (@AFL) October 11, 2015
The Blues have been active in the past few trade periods, securing the likes of Kristian Jaksch, Mark Whiley, Liam Jones and Matthew Dick last year, while Andrejs Everitt and Sam Docherty were notable players traded to the Blues in 2013.
McKay says the Blues will be active again this year if the right deals can be agreed on.
“Our general philosophy is if we are going to trade any of our players we need something better in return,” McKay said.
“That benefit might not come with that direct swap, but what we might set up is a third party coming in to use our swap to benefit us.”
As it stands Carlton holds the number one draft pick, along with the first selection in each round of the draft. That includes picks 1, 20, 38, 56, 74, 92 and 110. Some of those selections may change through the allocation of compensation picks, while the Blues could gain additional selections through the trade.
Stay tuned to the Carlton website – we’ll keep you up to date on the latest from our recruiting team as the trade period unfolds.