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But not without some swings. <\/p>\n
They were firmly in the mix for Jack Silvagni before St Kilda pounced late on the free agent. <\/p>\n
The Dogs then went hard after Cal Wilkie and effectively forced the Saints to renegotiate the contract of the star defender and likely their next skipper.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s understood 2025 All-Australian squad member Mark Keane is another name the Dogs targeted after also holding interest in fellow Crow Jordon Butts. <\/p>\n
The Western Bulldogs were in the market for a key defender.Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n
Of course, Adelaide asked the question of Ryley Sanders, so you wonder if either Keane or Butts were tied into that enquiry.<\/p>\n
Despite those attempts, nothing came to fruition in the end. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot going on behind the scenes, we did get into some pretty meaningful conversations with a few others,\u201d Dogs player acquisition and strategy manager Michael Regan told AFL Trade Radio on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cCallum (Wilkie) wasn\u2019t the only player we approached. The reasons for why they didn\u2019t happen are layered and multi faceted.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut there\u2019s also a longer term strategy in involved in both those approaches and how we\u2019re looking at key back. <\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes getting these things out hurts your ability to maybe look at them again in 12 months.\u201d<\/p>\n
The wording out of the Kennel all along was they were only going to move on a key back if it was a clear upgrade. Not get one for the sake of it to paper over the cracks.<\/p>\n
But they in fact were aggressive in hunting that star defender to book-end their loaded forward line.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, we\u2019ll explore SSP (Pre-Season Supplemental Selection Period) at some level. But we have to make sure whoever we bring in is going to make a meaningful impact for the football club,\u201d Regan added.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat will be the lens we look at that through and there\u2019s a much longer term strategy at play. We may not see the fruits of that labour until next trade period or even the trade period after. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to make sure we\u2019re aggressive in looking at top-end talent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Merrett’s bid to join Hawks fails | 01:28<\/p>\n
Steven May was another player linked to the Dogs, but there ultimately wasn\u2019t much of a market for the Melbourne backman, who turns 34 next January, in the end. <\/p>\n
Leek Aleer also didn\u2019t suit their needs. <\/p>\n
So who else was out there that\u2019s actually attainable?<\/p>\n
Tylar Young was the only traditional key back to move clubs during the exchange window, crossing from Richmond to West Coast. <\/p>\n
The 192cm Jai Serong, who switched from Hawthorn to Sydney, is more of a hybrid. <\/p>\n
The Dogs are more in need of a brute stopper to supplement interceptors Rory Lobb and James O\u2019Donnell, so even Silvagni probably wouldn\u2019t have addressed that.<\/p>\n
They just weren\u2019t able to find it. Or at least not for the right price.<\/p>\n
Connor Budarick was the Dogs\u2019 sole trade addition to effectively replace the retired Taylor Duryea\u2019s old role as a small lockdown defender.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile the club\u2019s rocky Jamarra Ugle-Hagan marriage ended as it traded the former No. 1 pick to Gold Coast, but Buku Khamis wasn\u2019t granted his wish to move to Carlton.<\/p>\n
The Dogs\u2019 key back stocks are further thinned with Liam Jones\u2019 departure as the club look to bounce back from a brutal ninth-placed finish with 14 wins. <\/p>\n
A quiet trade period at Whitten Oval comes ahead of a year the club will be targeting Port Adelaide superstar Zak Butters, who can become a free agent in 2026.<\/p>\n
So preserving assets could help, particularly when you look at the steep price Charlie Curnow commanded and what Essendon was wanting for Zach Merrett.<\/p>\n
While Butters looms large, you can also expect the Dogs to again be in the market for a key defender. But as per the plan, only if they think it will raise their ceiling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Many have been left questioning why the Western Bulldogs didn\u2019t add a gun key defender during the trade…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":216864,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,2095,64,63,689,55,639,684,48482,1129,132513,132519,125285,1119,2485,132517,6179,132516,3523,6277,132518,663,11234,69230,673,2041,2067,677,132512,6082,132515,701,113652,6858,131831,132514,1124,85,20960,1122,12100,8018,132520,670,132511,11236,1133,57548,2614,660,4899,698,23510],"class_list":["post-216863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-america","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-ben-cotton","tag-callum-wilkie","tag-charlie-curnow","tag-club-look","tag-defensive-upgrades","tag-exchange-window","tag-football-club","tag-gold-coast","tag-gun-key-defender","tag-jack-silvagni","tag-key-back","tag-key-defender","tag-liam-jones","tag-lockdown-defender","tag-luke-beveridge","tag-mark-keane","tag-michael-regan","tag-new-south-wales","tag-north-america","tag-northern-america","tag-oceania","tag-player-acquisition","tag-port-adelaide","tag-preserving-assets","tag-queensland","tag-quiet-trade-period","tag-richmond","tag-rory-lobb","tag-sole-trade-addition","tag-south-australia","tag-sports","tag-squad-member","tag-st-kilda","tag-star-defender","tag-steven-may","tag-strategy-manager","tag-sydney","tag-term-strategy","tag-trade-news","tag-trade-period","tag-trade-target","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-victoria","tag-virginia","tag-western-bulldogs","tag-zak-butters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}