Maintaining and improving their draft hand will be focal for Essendon’s strategy in this year’s Continental Tyres Trade Period.

Ahead of his first full off-season in the role, AFL Talent and Operations Manager Matt Rosa and Essendon’s wider list and recruiting team remain focused on strengthening their position ahead of the national draft in late November.

“Clearly, we’re doing our due diligence on a lot of players that are out of contract but really, our main aim over this period is to improve our draft hand,” Rosa told AFL Trade Radio.

“We’re really keen to hold onto the picks we’ve currently got and potentially improve our hand.

With the Bombers in the mix to potentially match a bid for JHA prospect Isaac Kako in the upcoming national draft, interest in young GWS midfielder Conor Stone as a potential trade target has also been reported externally.

“Isaac (Kako)’s been involved with our program since the age of 12, so (he’s) clearly had some real development opportunities with the club and he’s become a really good player. There’s still a fair bit to play out in terms of where that all sits but we like him.

“Conor (Stone)’s a player we have had some interest in and tracked along the season, our recruiting crew liked him coming through.

“It’s still reasonably early and clubs have still got a lot of work to do in terms of formulating their draft order.”

Rosa noted it was still early in the proceedings regarding next steps for contracted pair Jake Stringer and Jayden Laverde, who have attracted interest from opposition clubs in recent weeks.

“Jake (Stringer) is clearly a contracted player and had a really good season this year, there has been some interest (but) it’s day one of the Trade Period, so we’ll see where that lands and keep in constant contact with Jake’s management.

“We understand there’s the aspect of tenure that’s been discussed but we’ll continue to work through that. Similar with Jayden (Laverde), he’s had a pretty good season and played a lot of good footy for us this year.

In the case of Dylan Shiel, Rosa expects the experienced midfielder to remain in red and black in 2025.

“Dylan (Shiel) is one that was frustrated early in the year with his body but came back and played some really good footy. There was clearly some interest in Dylan last year but nothing to note this year, so we expect that he’ll be at the club next year.”

The Continental Tyres Trade Period began on Monday morning and will close on Wednesday, October 16 at 7:30pm AEDT.