Sydney chief executive Tom Harley wants senior assistant coach Don Pyke to stay with the Swans but won’t stand in his way should he put his hand up for the vacant chief executive role at West Coast.

Pyke was a two-time premiership player with the Eagles in the 1990s before becoming a senior coach with Adelaide and, more recently, a highly valued assistant coach for Swans mentor John Longmire.

Pyke is reportedly among the candidates to replace Trevor Nisbett, the long-time boss of the Eagles.

“We love Pykey and we are really hopeful and planning for him to be part of our footy club whilst acknowledging that without going into specifics, there’s a vacant role over at the West Coast Eagles,” Harley told SEN on Thursday.

“You’d have to say it is not a traditional path to that sort of role but he’s a really special talent and we’ve got plans for him over here as well.

“We’ll work with Don really respectfully through that and time will tell. But things are a bit out of our control but if I could wave a magic wand, he’d be staying with us at the Swans and contributing to our programs.”