Eagles get leg-up in chase for Chad Warner after securing best mate Trent Rivers on trade deadline

West Coast secured Melbourne duo Trent Rivers and Jack Viney on the stroke of the AFL trade deadline on Wednesday night.

In Jack Viney, they gained a heart-and-soul warrior whose off-field leadership could well be as crucial as his on-field impact.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Trent Rivers and Chad Warner’s pre-draft bromance

In Rivers, they got a classy defender who uses the ball well coming out of half back.

But that’s not all Rivers could be to the Eagles, who will be at the front of the queue for Sydney star Chad Warner if he chooses to leave the Swans when becomes a free agent at the end of next year.

Western Australia-born pair Rivers and Warner were best mates growing up in Perth, having played for East Fremantle together in the WAFL.

They also worked together, surfed together, and spent countless hours with each other outside of footy before they were drafted to different parts of the country.

Rivers was taken by Melbourne and became a premiership player — ironically in Perth during the COVID-affected season of 2021 — and Warner went to Sydney, going on to become one of the competition’s premier midfielders.

There was speculation throughout 2025 that Warner could be headed home to WA at the end of that year before he re-committed to the Swans on a two-year deal that takes him through until free agency.

Next year, it is set to ramp up again, with the two WA teams still keen to lure the 25-year-old home.

And now the Eagles have Rivers to try to help convince Warner to come across.

Lifelong Eagles fan Rivers said he shed a few tears when his trade finally went through.

“We’re both so excited for it, so to get (the trade) all ticked off and everything falling into place is exactly what we asked for,” Rivers said of he and Viney’s move.

“I’m ecstatic to be honest. I was sitting there watching the countdown with my partner and finally got the call that the trade went through.