St Kilda has been criticised by GWS for their withdrawal from the Leek Aleer trade.
The Saints provided one of the biggest stories of AFL Trade Period by walking away from negotiations with the Giants for the 195cm defender.
Out-of-contract Aleer had requested a trade to St Kilda after GWS' season ended, with the Saints reportedly courting the 24-year-old for at least 12 months.
It has been reported St Kilda instantly walked away from negotiations after the Giants knocked back their offer, despite six days remaining of the AFL Trade Period.
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GWS general manager of football Jason McCartney confirmed the deal fell apart in regards to a second-round pick and suggested the Saints could have continued negotiations.
"A second rounder was part of it," McCartney said on AFL Trade Radio.
"You can trade two years in the future too. So there's plenty of mechanisms. I'll leave it at that."
McCartney revealed Aleer, who is overseas in Barcelona, was in 'shock' at the development in a negotiation he believes 'wasn't difficult'.
"First, I'd just like to get on the record that this wasn't a difficult trade negotiation. That's absolutely fact," he said.
"We're not privy to what other clubs' strategies and how they're going to operate through this period. So I'm loath to comment on what other clubs are doing. What I will say is Leek is shattered. He's incredibly disappointed.
"Both Adam Kingsley and myself spoke with him yesterday afternoon. He's in Barcelona. He loves the club and was in tears at his exit interview.
"The reason for leaving was a great opportunity to play regular football, because at the moment, he's developing nicely, but we've just got a couple of really A-grade defenders ahead of him. It was obviously a good offer. We're not privy to what it was, but the speculation around it...
"So as hard as it was, he made the decision to leave, and that had been something that we'd sort of factored in for a long way out.
"There's a contract there with us. We've obviously had to go back and revisit that, because since our chats with Leek and his manager earlier in the year, and you sort of read the tea leaves that this is probably looking unlikely, we've recontracted 16 players this year, 10 of which weren't due to be out of contract until the end of next year.
"So Leek is more than welcome to be playing at the Giants next year, and there's something there, but he's in shock at the moment."