SYDNEY pay more than any other club in the AFL to run their football department. So perhaps they can find room in the budget for a structural engineer. This is a club with some bridges to build.

Most urgently, having left this week's trade talks without having consummated a deal, they must find a way to bring Ryan O'Keefe back into the fold. Otherwise, they risk losing the hard-running All-Australian forward in the pre-season draft for nothing.

That the Swans could not strike a deal for such a valuable player was partly due to the almost absurd premium clubs are putting on draft picks this year, with Gold Coast - and perhaps western Sydney - set to corner the market in young talent in the next few years.

Still, even in a buyers' market, it was remarkable that a player of O'Keefe's status did not attract the high first-round pick his talents would have demanded in most other years.

O'Keefe, who felt he had been low-balled by the Swans in contract negotiations, had virtually packed his bags in preparation for a return to his home town of Melbourne. The Swans, who felt O'Keefe should have accepted their upgraded contract offer - more than $450,000 a season for three years - had also moved on.

Now comes that rather awkward conversation that takes place when an estranged couple try to reconcile. O'Keefe believes he is valued more elsewhere - particularly at Carlton, who could pay him up to $600,000 a season. The Swans feel a bit betrayed themselves.

Thus the apparent hard line yesterday from the Swans, who, rather than shower O'Keefe with roses, instead wanted an indication he wanted to stay in red and white before they put any new offers on the table.

Barry Hall is another player who might - yet again - test the diplomatic skills of the Swans' football department. Especially if the budding pugilist spends his downtime in Los Angeles being courted by boxing impresarios.