It’s a line that gets dragged out regularly around this time of year, but according to Essendon it’s one that has no basis.
When trade deals stall its often said ‘the Bombers are hard to deal with’.
But General Manager of Football Operations Rob Kerr said there is little evidence to support that claim.
“Things often become urban myths if you say them often enough,” he told SEN.
“You do kind of bristle at it and sometimes it paints you as being the ones holding things up.
“That’s probably something that’s carried over from a long, long time ago and in recent years I’d like to think that’s changed.”
Throughout this year’s trade period Essendon has secured deals to send Jake Carlisle and Jake Melksham to their desired clubs.
“We’ve been fairly proactive and I think up to this point in time it’s been a pretty successful trade period,” Kerr said.
“I’d say at different times its been thrown up to be used against us, but you just get on with it and I think in this instance the scoreboard tells the tale as far as this trade period goes.
“There was a deal done early with Jake Melksham to Melbourne. That was managed fairly quickly in the process and even though this one (Carlisle) took a little while to come to its resolution, there was always good intent on the part of Adrian (Dodoro) to get a deal done.
“He’s a tremendous talent so you’re going to be involved in some genuine hard bargaining to get a deal there. But that’s just both parties trying to get something that ultimately you can walk away from and say win-win.”
Recent deals involving the Bombers
2015: Jake Melksham to Melbourne for pick 25
2015: Jonathan Giles and pick 62 to West Coast for pick 57
2015: Jake Carlisle to St Kilda
2015: Craig Bird to Essendon
2014: Adam Cooney to Essendon for pick 37
2014: Jonathan Giles to Essendon for pick 53
2014: Patrick Ryder to Port Adelaide for picks 17 and 37
2013: Kurt Aylett and Shaun Edwards to Essendon for pick 48
2013: Paul Chapman to Essendon for fifth round selection
2012: Angus Monfries to Port Adelaide for pick 51
