‘Put out the fixture ASAP’: Swan’s cheeky Blakey message as saga forces whole club to ‘start again’

Sydney have ended up one of the biggest players in this AFL Trade Period – and not willingly, Fox Footy’s experts have warned.

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Nick Blakey’s trade deal to North Melbourne is the latest and ended the club’s ties to the 2024 All-Australian – despite him previously becoming the first AFL player signed into the 2030s when he put pen to paper on a lengthy deal back in 2023.

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But the club’s Pullman Five scandal saw the star left “disgruntled” and determined to move on, joining Joel Amartey and Harry Cunningham out the door this off-season.

“They’ve tried to post it as a positive they’ve strengthen their draft hand,” Fox Footy’s Anthony Hudson started on Trading Day.

“They are not getting any better are they?” panellist Scott Gullan replied.

“Yes, they’ve bolstered the hand. They’ve sold the cultural piece, they can sell letting go of Blakey as part of fixing that off the field but on the field, they’re not in a better position than they were last year.”

But Bulldogs great Brad Johnson said the club was “galvanised” following the scandal, where Sydney went agonisingly close to a grand final appearance despite those five players – Blakey, Isaac Heeney, James Jordon, Riley Bice and Chad Warner – all suspended for the remainder of 2026.

“I think they are in a better position from what all happened in a club perspective,” he shared.

“I think it’s galvanised the whole footy club. So that’s dangerous in my eyes as a whole footy club.

“That played out in the latter part of the season – can that roll through to now, a summer and a new season? We wait and see.”

One player looking forward to 2027 is Tom Papley who took to social media following Blakey’s exit to confirm he’s ready for a first confrontation.

“Love him like a brother,” he captioned his photo with Nick Blakey.

“But Mr Dillon please put out the fixture ASAP.”

While player personnel remains in the spotlight for the Swans, Johnson praised the work of CEO Matthew Pavlich, who only joined the club this year.

“They’ve had a chance as a club to, under Matthew Pavlich’s guidance, to start again,” he said.

“And just go OK, this has happened. This is where we need to be over this finals series – we’ve seen it as the whole club and now we go forward together again.”

As it stands, the Swans currently hold picks 6, 38, 39, 47, 54, 76 and 95 in the upcoming draft.

But Gullan has questioned just how damaging this trio of exits will be.

“We saw their depth in the finals when they lifted and played amazing couple of games,” he said.

“But this hurts their depth.

“And if they get any injuries …”

Fox Footy journalist David Zita added that how the Swans respond in 2027 would be important in determining the future of their star Warner, despite his suspension served.

“Next year is important … there’s obviously much bigger matters for Chad Warner concerning him, but in terms of his football future next year, it seems like most people think he’s certainly prizable out of there,” he warned.

“We thought he was gone last time but stayed and was excited,” Gullan replied.

“But he admitted how tough a call it was for him to stay put,” Zita said.

The Swans have been one of the most successful clubs of this decade, having missed finals just once since the 2020 Covid-affected season.