The Lions’ turnover ahead of the 2014 season has probably been larger than most, with nine players already removed from last year’s senior list along with three rookies.
Jesse O’Brien was the latest player to be advised that he wouldn’t be part of the Lions’ future, with the Club needing to find room on their list for six potential draftees.
In the third and final instalment of his exclusive interview with LIONS TV - which will appear on lions.com.au later today - National Talent Manager Rob Kerr reveals that the Club had attempted to find O’Brien a new home during the trade period.
“With relation to Jesse, we did speak with other clubs and say that if someone was interested, we would be willing to trade him,” Kerr said.
“He was what you would probably classify as ‘trade’ or ‘keep’ (player), subject to our final position at the end of the period.”
In the end, the Lions came out of the trade period with six selections inside the first two rounds of the National Draft with intention to use all of them.
“We would have liked to trade our way up the order, and we explored our options there for pretty much the entire last week,” Kerr said.
“The only real bite we had on that front was when someone was willing to trade a pick in the teens, but it was going to cost us three second round picks.
“We decided that, knowing how the draft was likely to fall and looking at the quality of players in the 20s, that we didn’t want to lose three picks for one.
“That’s probably where it hurt Jesse a little bit because we walked away from the trade period with six picks inside 34, which gives us an option to be pretty strategic throughout the second round.
“To be able to do that, it meant we had to free up a position on the list and unfortunately for Jesse that came at his cost.”
Kerr said it was a similar story with forward Aaron Cornelius.
“We were happy to try and get Aaron to another AFL club, but there wasn’t the level of interest required for that to happen,” he said.
“Now he will be a delisted free agent, so he won’t cost a club anything if they want to put him on their list.”
The Lions submitted their first official list lodgement to the AFL with the following changes:
Additions
Justin Clarke (Promoted Rookie)
Jonathan Freeman (Hyundai Lions Academy Selection)
Jackson Paine (Traded from Collingwood)
Trent West (Traded from Geelong)
Deletions (Senior)
Simon Black (Retired)
Aaron Cornelius (Delisted)
Sam Docherty (Traded to Carlton)
Patrick Karnezis (Traded to Collingwood)
Billy Longer (Traded to St Kilda)
Niall McKeever (Delisted)
Jesse O’Brien (Delisted)
Jared Polec (Traded to Port Adelaide)
Elliot Yeo (Traded to West Coast)
Deletions (Rookie)
Callum Bartlett (Delisted)
Richard Newell (Delisted)
Stephen Wrigley (Delisted)
2013 AFL National Draft Picks (6)
7, 22, 25, 28, 33 and 34.
NB: The Lions entered the 2013 season with 39 senior listed players, with one spot left vacant for a potential pre-season rookie upgrade (Justin Clarke). The Club currently has 34 senior listed players, with the final six spots to be filled at the 2013 AFL National Draft.
