A number of the NAB Challenge squad players are likely to commence training at the club as early as tomorrow.
General Manager of Football Operations Rob Kerr said the club had reached an agreement with the AFL and AFLPA on the terms of the contracts that the players will sign.
“The holdup was getting agreements on what happens in the event of injury, to make sure the players’ aren’t suffering a loss of football income and also if they have a job, to make sure that the insurance policies that are in place there would provide them with some cover if they were unable to return to work,” Kerr said.
“So what will happen from here is the AFL will send a memo out to the state leagues who will forward that on to the clubs involved – so the clubs will have full oversight of the terms and conditions and get the understanding they’re after of what is actually involved in this process.”
“We will talk to the players and will also let the clubs know that this is where things are at – now all we’re really waiting for is for the state league club to agree to release their player and obviously for the player to say they are happy with these conditions. If all goes well there, we’d expect some of the boys will be training with us by tomorrow afternoon.
“Let’s assume that everyone gives consent and if that is the case, then certainly the Victorian boys will be available to train tomorrow.”
Kerr revealed former Brisbane player Sam Michael had expressed interest in being involved in the club’s upcoming NAB Challenge series.
“In Sam’s case, we’ve obviously been communicating with his manager and Sam himself and we made a call to his club last week and we’ll speak again to the club,” Kerr said.
“We’ll also speak with Sam again and explain the terms and conditions and then provided the club is happy to release him, Sam will be ready to jump on a plane and come down to Melbourne as soon as he can.
“He’s a 200cm player and can play a number of roles so he would be a handy back up for either a ruck or a key position.”
Kerr said the club was confident it had signed enough players to participate in the squad but would make the final call by the end of the week.
“We think (six players) will be probably enough for the NAB Challenge but we may need one more. Obviously you’re relying on everyone being fit and you’re also relying on most of our players who are on the Essendon list who are available to be fit,” he said.
“We’re continuing to talk to one or two VFL clubs to see whether they would be happy to provide us with an extra few players if we needed the numbers. We’re hopeful that may not be the case but we’ll have a better idea once we get through this week, see how our own list looks at the end of the week and then assess it from there.”
