Sydney star Tom Papley wasn’t granted his wish during the trade period, but the small forward addressed the issue in a meeting at the start of the pre-season and hasn’t put a foot wrong this summer.

Despite being contracted until the end of 2023, the 23-year-old requested a move to Carlton to be closer to his family, with North Melbourne also chasing the livewire forward.

But the trade collapsed after Sydney couldn’t negotiate a trade with Essendon for All-Australian key forward Joe Daniher.

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Round 18

Papley then spent the off-season travelling through Europe with Callum Mills, Will Hayward, Ryan Clarke, Ben Ronke, Harry Cunningham and Ollie Florent, stopping in Barcelona, Munich, Prague and Berlin before returning to the Harbour City.

The Bunyip product cited personal family reasons for his shock trade request, following a season where he finished fourth in the Skilton Medal after booting a career-high 37 goals.

Sydney young gun Isaac Heeney has revealed Papley stood up in front of the group and put the matter to bed ahead of the first session of the pre-season in November.

Tom Papley poses during the Sydney Swans AFL media day at the Hordern Pavilion. Source: Getty Images

“It was a quick address and we moved on very quickly,” Heeney told foxsports.com.au at Sydney’s broadcast shoot.

“He just jumped up and said whatever happened in the off-season is behind us now and we move forward.

“It is a funny, because I think everyone forgets about it, and forgets about it pretty soon.

“He came back on a mission. He is really digging in and looks like he is really enjoying his time up in Sydney with us.

“He is a pretty special player as well; a real goal sneak at the feet of the talls. His head is definitely in a good spot to have a lot of impact for us this year.”

Isaac Heeney during the Sydney Swans full squad first day of pre season training. Picture. Phil Hillyard Source: News Corp Australia

Papley wasn’t the only Swan to be linked to a move during the trade period.

Heeney was travelling through France in October when he woke up one morning to his name being attached to the Daniher trade, after the Bombers reportedly requested him to be involved in the deal.

The 23-year-old received a few messages from inquisitive teammates but never considered agreeing to a move to Tullamarine.

“I didn’t really think too much into it, to be honest. There was a lot of stuff thrown around at the time,” he said.

“I believe it was pretty far fetched from my knowledge. I wasn’t worried at all.

“It was just a bit of that hype that I didn’t really need or want at the time, but it didn’t really fluster to me at all.”

Heeney is facing a race against the clock to be fit in time for Round 1 after breaking his thumb in a freak training mishap at the end of January.