Dean Cox asked about Charlie Curnow meeting and Tom Papley comments amid Swans interest in Blues star

Sydney coach Dean Cox has refused to confirm he met with wantaway Carlton star Charlie Curnow, but insists his club won’t stop at anything to improve its list.

The Swans loom as a potential central figure of this year’s AFL exchange period, with the club heavily linked to Curnow, who’s reportedly determined to get out of Carlton, despite being contracted to the Blues until the end of 2029.

Reports last week stated Curnow requested a trade at his exit interview, two months after speculation emerged he was considering his future.

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Blues coach Michael Voss on Monday declared Curnow will “be at Carlton in 2026”, but hours later it was suggested Curnow was willing to take a pay cut to leave and didn’t have a great relationship with Voss.

7News Melbourne reported earlier this week Curnow had met with Swans coach Cox about a potential trade prior to flying out to the USA for holidays.

Asked directly on SEN Breakfast on Thursday morning whether he’d met with Curnow, Cox said: “I think you know I won’t talk about anything that does or doesn’t happen.

“That’s one thing that I’ve always thought … if you do have meetings, or if you don’t even have them, everything is done behind closed doors and that’s the way we’ll keep it.”

It’s expected the Swans will look to bolster their forward stocks in the coming months.

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Asked if Curnow was a player he would like to recruit to Sydney, Cox said: “I think any player where they’re out of contract or they’re open to a trade … we have to improve our list.

“We’re 12-11, we’re not playing football this weekend, which is our ultimate goal. No matter who it is, we need to make sure we scour around the competition for players we think will benefit our football club.

“From there, the logistics that happen … is it attainable through trade, draft and what we have to do through that process? There’s a lot of work but a lot of hypotheticals as well.”

Swans star Tom Papley this week said he would “love for it (a Curnow-Swans move) to happen”, but rejected the idea of being part of a trade with Carlton for him.

Papley, contracted until 2028, requested a move to the Blues in the 2019 trade period but the Swans held him to his contract, instead enjoying the small forward’s growth into a three-time club leading goalkicker and 2021 All-Australian.

His interest in a return to Victoria has seen him floated in trade conversations since, with Papley confirming on his podcast, The Early Crow, he’d spoken to his manager after Curnow’s management approached Papley’s people around his interest in being part of a trade.

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Cox said he was pleased Papley wanted a big name to come to his club.

“I think players want as many great players as they can at football clubs to play alongside,” Cox said.

“They understand that and the ramifications that come with that and that someone just doesn’t come knocking and walk in your door.”

Cox said any trade play for a big-name rival player would be driven by the club’s list management department, but suggested player leaders would be brought in later in the process if needed.

“The players — and they’ll be the same at every club — they hear a little bit of the whispers and ask: ‘Is there any truth in this rumour? What’s happening here?’ They want to know as much as they possibly can as well,” he said.

“I think the further you go through any process, you might speak to some of the leaders. But before that, we’ve got to make sure it’s the right thing for our footy club what we do with the list demographic, but also what it costs to get players in as well.”

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