Sydney football boss Charlie Gardiner says they’ve spoken to contracted West Coast ruckman Tom Hickey about a possible move to the Swans, with the big man interested in a return to the eastern states.

Hickey, 29, has been reportedly hunted by the Swans for much of this off-season as they look to add ruck depth to help out former Eagle Callum Sinclair, with fellow Sydney Sam Naismith to spend most of next year on the sidelines after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament.

Gardiner confirmed they’d spoken to both West Coast and Hickey about a move to a fourth club after two seasons and 23 games at the Eagles.

“I understanding Tom and his wife have an interest in getting back to the east for family reasons... we haven’t kicked off any meaningful discussions about Tom,” Gardiner told AFL Trade Radio.

“I’m not a party to those discussions as yet, they’re in a fairly preliminary stage.

“He’s just one of a number of players that our team’s spoken to.

“It’s been well documented that we’d like to bolter our ruck stocks, provide some support to Call Sinclair.

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“We’d like to secure an established ruckman.”

Hickey was originally drafted to Gold Coast where he played 12 games in two years before he was traded to St Kilda, where he managed 67 games from 2013 to 2018.

The Queenslander then landed at West Coast as the Eagles looked to add depth to their ruck department following a series of knee injuries to star Nic Naitanui and the departure of premiership big man Scott Lycett to Port Adelaide.

Hickey played 20 games in his first year at the Eagles, but managed just three this year as the Eagles chose to go with the Naitanui-Oscar Allen combination in the shortened games.

If Hickey does go to the Swans, he will follow Sinclair, Mark Seaby and Jason Ball as former Eagles who have ended up at Sydney.