Sydney Swans add South Adelaide's Hayden McLean via rookie list

The Sydney Swans have added South Adelaide forward Hayden McLean to the club via the new pre-season supplementary list rules to replace injured defender Jack Maibaum.

McLean did a medical with the club on Friday before returning to South Adelaide to train, sitting out an intra-club practice match with the SANFL club as he waited to receive the news on Tuesday.

The Swans began to look to add a player via the pre-season supplementary list after they lost youngster Jack Maibaum to a knee injury and had examined whether to choose McLean or former Collingwood defender Sam McLarty.

However McLean, who was vice-captain of Vic Metro in 2017 and Sandringham's best first-year player last year, got the nod having done a pre-season with the highly regarded South Adelaide.

McLean is the third mature-aged player South Adelaide have lost ahead of this season with Nathan Kreuger joining Geelong and Keegan Brooksby joining West Coast.

The Panthers are unlikely to be compensated for the loss with state leagues - while supportive of players getting greater opportunity - hoping a structure can be set up that helps clubs who lose players in such circumstances.

Swans list boss Kinnear Beatson said the club had followed McLean throughout his junior career and knew what type of character they were recruiting.

"Hayden has been a member of AFL Academy and did his AFL club placement with the Swans – he was impressive in that time," Beatson said.

"Having been overlooked in the draft, he had a very successful season with the Sandringham Zebras in the VFL playing as a key forward/pinch-hitting ruckman, often against players such as [AFL-listed ruckman] Matthew Leuenberger, Braydon Preuss and Zac Smith. We’re really pleased that Hayden will finally get his chance at AFL level."

The pre-season supplementary period closes on March 15 with Michael Gibbons, Matthew Cottrell (Carlton), Zac Clarke (Essendon), Shane Mumford (Giants), Corey Wagner (Melbourne), Tom Campbell (North Melbourne), Maverick Weller, Sydney Stack (Richmond) and Brooksby (West Coast) already joining clubs under the new rule.