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GREATER Western Sydney forward Jed Lamb will join Carlton or remain at the Giants, his manager Matt Bain says.

Essendon was reportedly in the running to secure the 22-year-old goalkicker, who was first recruited by the Sydney Swans with pick No.21 in the 2010 NAB AFL Draft.

However Bain told NAB AFL Trade Radio on Wednesday that Carlton was in the box seat given Lamb's close association with Blues list manager Stephen Silvagni at the Giants.

"At this stage, it probably looks like he'll stay at GWS or go to Carlton," Bain said.

"They [Essendon] wanted to have a chat to him, but at the time they didn't have a coach … where Carlton had every going with 'Bolts' [coach Brendon Bolton] already.

"He knows Silvagni really well through the switch from Sydney to GWS and that all aligns, so at this stage, it looks like Carlton."

Lamb has managed just 10 matches since being recruited by the Giants at the end of 2013.

The opportunity-starved 182cm forward played 12 games for the Swans in that year before switching to the Giants.

Bain said the fact that Lamb was contracted to the Giants until the end of 2016 would not present any challenges should he choose to join Carlton.

He added that discussions would heat up once his client returned from an overseas holiday in Ireland, where he visited his former Swans teammate Tommy Walsh.

"He gets back on Monday – he flies into Sydney," Bain said.

"I'll either fly up there or he's going to come down here for the week and we'll have a bit more of a chat then."