“We know how good Blake, Justin and Chris are as people and players. But they came to our club at a very young age as do Jobe Watson, Damian Cupido, Adam McPhee and our draft picks. They will get a similar start and we will work on getting similar results,” Shaw said.
“The salary cap is certainly prohibitive and it made it difficult to maintain our strong list – one that we have spent years developing. We anticipated that the veteran’s rule would change and it didn’t and we were put in a situation where we simply had to trade some well paid players,” Shaw said. “I think our supporters understand the situation. I also hope they realise how well we have done to maintain the list as long as we have under present AFL rules.”
Shaw said there was always going to be some negative reaction to the trades. “We had a similar response when we traded Damien Hardiwck last year. I wonder if those people who roundly condemned us would now give back Joel Reynolds and Andrew Welsh for Damien? I wouldn’t think so,” Shaw said.
Shaw pointed out that Essendon had held extensive discussions with basically every ruckman that was being touted as possible trade bait. “It is very easy for everyone to say why didn’t we end up with a ruckman,” Shaw said. “The simple fact is that everything had to take a back seat to salary cap relief and every ruckman we pursued wanted around the same money as the players we let go. End of story – it is easier said than done.”
And Shaw also said that supporters should not discount what Essendon has got in exchange for trading Justin Blumfield, Chris Heffernan and Blake Caracella. “People shouldn’t disregard the fact that we have four selections in the top 30 and that is the first time in more than five years we have been in that situation,” Shaw said. “We have already secured Jobe Watson and Damian Cupido and Adam McPhee are both ready-made players who will have an impact this season.”
