Sydney veteran Dane Rampe is "quietly confident" star teammate Will Hayward will recommit to the AFL premiership favourites, despite strong interest from rival clubs.
Create a free account to read this article
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
South Australian product Hayward is a restricted free agent and has reportedly attracted huge offers from Carlton, Adelaide and Port Adelaide.
But the Swans are growing more optimistic the 25-year-old will stay put in the Harbour City.
Hayward has been instrumental in the ladder-leading Swans' surge into flag favouritism, contributing a team-high 20 goals in their 9-1 start.
"I'm quietly confident," Rampe told reporters ahead of the Swans' clash with the Western Bulldogs on Thursday night.
"It's been a credit to him the way he's handled the last couple of weeks.
"I can only imagine how tough it is coming out of contract and you've got offers coming at you left, right and centre.
"But we are quietly optimistic, although it's been made clear to me it's not done yet."
While Hayward is set to play a key role in Sydney's clash with the Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium, veteran midfielder Luke Parker will again be watching from the sidelines.
Parker, who played four VFL matches on return from a broken arm this year, was hit with a six-match ban this week over the heavy bump that left Frankston's Josh Smith with facial injuries.
The Swans are appealing the length of the suspension.
"I'm respectful of the Frankston player who's obviously injured, but on a personal level I'm just feeling for a mate at the moment who's had a tough start to the year," Rampe said.
"He's flat, but he's been unbelievably stoic in all of this and he knows that his time will come.
"We're all confident of that and we're all excited to get him back in the team when he does come back in."
Sydney (9-1) have won six straight games by an average margin of almost eight goals leading into the Bulldogs clash, which is their last outing before the mid-season bye.
"We want to really add an exclamation mark on the last six weeks, and then we'll reassess after the weekend," Rampe said.
The unpredictable Bulldogs (5-5) have seemingly turned a corner over the past fortnight, registering convincing wins over Richmond and finals hopefuls GWS.
Sydney have made just one forced change, naming Matt Roberts as a replacement for Robbie Fox (AC joint), while the Bulldogs recalled Anthony Scott in place of dropped defender Luke Cleary.
Australian Associated Press
