Essendon's Joe Daniher says he is "comfortable" where he is, following continuing speculation linking the Bombers forward with a move to Sydney.
The rumours began circulating after Daniher was spotted having lunch with Sydney CEO Tom Harley earlier in the year.
“Obviously there’s a lot in the media, which I’m not privy to because I don’t spend a lot of time reading newspapers or watching TV,” Daniher told the Herald Sun.
“But I’m comfortable. I’ve made some comments, the football club has made some comments and for me I can just get on with business.
“I can get on with the work I’m working on, and that’s fixing my body at the moment."
Daniher was eligible to join the Swans as a father-son selection in his teenage years, but the 25-year-old says that's all in the past now.
“I considered it (Sydney) when I was 15 years old and that feels like a lifetime ago now. I’m now 25 and I’m happy with the process we’re going through now.
“They’re (Sydney) a terrific football club. It also makes it a little bit hard when you’re 15, you’re quite young and trying to see what your life looks like a little bit further down the track.
“I don’t know about you, but I was a very immature 15-year-old trying to make mature decisions.”
However, the Herald Sun's Sam Edmund remains unconvinced over Daniher's comments, and believes there could still be a bit to potentially play out in this story.
“The (trade) dossier on Joe Daniher is pretty thick. Because we know that he and Tom Harley have both said their lunch last month was blown out of all proportion,” Edmund said on SEN Breakfast.
“Joe himself said he was catching up with a mentor and he was also meeting his surgeon in Sydney.
“The whispers have just continued though, haven’t they.
“Because of how incredibly shrewd the Swans are in this space and have been. Because Daniher has family ties to the Swans and he could have gone there as a father/son, we know that.
“And yesterday, because Joe just wasn’t overly convincing in his answers about it. There were no guarantees, he just said: ‘I’ve said all that before, I’m contracted’.
“It’s not convincing. Maybe we are scared in this space because we’ve been given this stuff before and the opposite has turned out to happen. I’m not saying anything other than watch this space.
“It just doesn’t smell right. It smells a bit fishy.”
Bombers legend Tim Watson was less concerned over the matter, believing that the 2017 All-Australian will be staying put in 2020.
“I’m believing him on this one. I don’t think he’s going anywhere,” Watson said.
Daniher remains contracted to Essendon until the end of the 2020 season.