Nick, it was a chaotic end to deadline day. When all was said and done, Will Hayward became a Carlton player in a deal which saw Charlie Curnow join the Swans. Tell us about the process of Will becoming a Blue - someone who it’s no secret that the Club has had a key interest in for quite some time?

“Will was a player that we had a really good look at last year when he was a free agent. We identified him as a flexible player in the forward line that possesses something different to what we have. We think he can really add to our mix with how we move the ball but also provided us with an extra target in the air inside 50 with his ability to make something out of nothing.

“When the potential for a Charlie deal came up, he was at the top of our list as someone to revisit: once things started rolling along it became clear that if a deal was to get done for Charlie, then Will was going to part of that.

“Absolutely, he is beyond excited to be joining the Carlton footy club. We’ve spoken to Will a fair bit over the last week or so, particularly in the last 48 hours. He’s overseas right now and we had a bit to deal with in terms of the time difference, either some really early mornings or really late nights: we went down the path of showing him what we’re about, where our list is going and the direction of the football club. He was really excited by that. He can’t wait to get stuck in, it’s a massive win for us.”

Also included in that deal was the Club bringing in three first-round picks, for a haul of six in the next three years. Were those three picks essential to the deal being done?

“Getting those three first-round picks was paramount to us agreeing to trade Charlie to the Swans. To leave the period with six first-round draft picks over the next three years, not only with what we’ve got coming up with high-end father-son bids to match and only Tasmania on the horizon, we’ve got a fair bit of flexibility that we now possess moving into those periods.

“From a trade point of view and attacking free agency, we can really have a good look at the market and look at some players that can come to our Club in the next 12-24 months that puts us in a position to cover what we need to at the draft table. It’s a powerful position to be in.”

How does the Club see its draft position for 2025 from a points perspective, with considerations when it comes to Harry Dean and NGA prospect Jack Ison?

“We’ll take some stock now and tighten up our draft strategy once we take a deep breath and work through what’s happened.

“Heading into the draft with picks Nos.9 and 11 is a strong position to be in, and also there’s some back end stuff where we can move in and out and do what we need to do once we feel comfortable where the boys might be bid on. It puts us in a good position to move our picks around and maximise the position we find ourselves in.”

The first deal done on deadline day was one which may have caught people by surprise that it was done in isolation - what does the Club value in Ollie Florent?

“Like Will, Ollie has been a player we’ve had our eye on for a while. Straight off the bat, the flexibility he provides in terms of the positions he can play, he’s a magnet that the coaches can move around.

“From an attributes point of view, he’s powerful, clean and has good foot skills. Whether it’s breaking the lines coming out of defence or moving the ball with speed into the front half, it’s exciting what he can bring.

“We’ve seen how consistent he’s been for Sydney in such a strong side over a long period of time: I think he had a 130-game streak without missing heading into last year. He’s played a lot of finals and has Grand Final experience which him and Will will both bring to the footy club.”

And there’s the added factor that both Will and Ollie are best mates, which must be exciting for them both.

“They are best mates, they got drafted together as first-round picks, so they’ve been joined at the hip for quite a while. But it’s also a bit of a reunion that’s going to be taking place with Nic Newman, George Hewett and even Rob Inness, our Head of High Performance.

“What we have found is they’re really high-quality people and they possess the characteristics we’re looking for to build our footy club both on and off the field.”

That was deadline day, but it was just as busy an end to week one. Ben Ainsworth became a Blue on the Friday, when did he become a player of interest for the Club?

“We’ve been talking about our front half and how it looks for quite some time. Ben again - like Ollie and Will - possesses something different to what we’ve got down there. We’re excited to change up the mix and welcome him in, he’s a versatile player in that he’s strong overhead for his size, powerful and really crafty around the goals.

“One thing about Benny is he has elite endurance, so he can get up and back. We see him being that transition player between the arcs who can rip back and be dangerous inside 50, a really hard match-up. Chasing traits and attributes and things what we were looking for, and we feel like Ben fits what we’re doing perfectly.”

Safe to say there’s some exciting additions to a new-look forward line under assistant coach Josh Fraser from next year?

“That was one of the main goals coming into this trade period, not only to improve across the board but also to spread the load and add some dynamic and different skillsets to our side. It is going to be a fresh looking team, that’s exciting. New personalities to join the locker room, new personalities and really experienced footballers that are going to add a lot to us.

Not long before the agreement for Ben was the deal which saw Campbell Chesser become a Blue, a former pick No.14 just four years ago. Where does the Club see Campbell playing his best footy?

“Campbell was a first-round pick to the Eagles four years ago who battled some injuries when he went over there, particularly in his first year and at the start of last season. He had some really consistent game time across AFL level in 2023 and 2024.

“Campbell is a hard runner, elite endurance and elite speed. We’re looking to add as much run and dynamic movement to our list as we possibly can.

“He’s really excited about the opportunity to move back to Melbourne, which is going to be really good for him to settle down with his family and friends. He’s a great kid, a really hard worker and we’re looking forward to seeing what he can do.”

All the way back to day two of trade period - which must feel like six weeks ago for you - was the trade which saw big man Liam Reidy come to the Club. How do you see Liam adding to the Club’s ruck division?

“Liam has worked hard for his opportunity, he has dominated state league football across two states over the last four or five years. Playing VFL for Frankston he was a dominant ruckman which earned him the opportunity to get on an AFL list with Fremantle, which is where he’s done some really high end things at WAFL level.

“He’s only had a few opportunities at AFL level sitting behind Jackson and Darcy, but he was a premiership player at Peel Thunder as well as a best and fairest winner. He’s 25 years old, which we feel is a great age for a ruckman to come in. He can still work on his craft, but he’s big, strong, competitive and ready to go.

“We feel like it complements ‘Pitto’ who is 29 and Hudson O’Keeffe at 20 years of age who we saw at AFL level this year. Liam is right in the middle of those two, so as a ruck division it’s going to be really good to see the competition for spots start.”

A few extras to finish off. No spoilers, but when does attention turn to assigning jumper numbers for you new recruits?

“The jumper number committee will get together and get to work at some stage to see what’s available and who wants want! There’s some good numbers up for grabs so we’ll see where it all lands, it’s an exciting time for all the new boys including the draftees when they come in - then we’ll see where it all sits.”

And just finally, some of this was picked up by the Trade Radio cameras. The sandwiches or the lollies, what was the highlight?

“Very good question - Clare will kill me if I didn’t shoutout the brownies, they were very good.

LThe sandwiches were hard to go past, I didn’t see it at the time but I’m aware that there were a few that got caught tucking into that quite early in the afternoon. One thing we do very well is cater on days like yesterday and that was certainly the case.”