Faced with the likelihood of losing five of the Club’s high draft picks from the past few years, Kerr embarked on a ‘salvage mission’ with an aim to getting the best possible return for the Lions.
“It was always going to be a difficult trade period when you have five players saying that they want to go home and you don’t have a lot of leverage,” Kerr told SEN’s The Run Home on Friday afternoon.
“Our objective was to improve our draft position and also add a couple of ready-made players who could fill a need for the team, and I think we were able to achieve that.
“We would have probably liked to have moved up the order a bit more, but we weren’t able to package a deal up to enable us to do that.”
The task wasn’t made any easier when some of the departing players nominated a preferred destination – a luxury generally only reserved for Free Agents who have spent a minimum of eight years in the system.
And although the Lions were determined not to simply roll over and give in to demands of other clubs, they also risked potentially losing the players for nothing in the upcoming Drafts.
It ultimately meant that the players’ true value probably wasn’t realised.
Kerr said that part of the issue was that some player agents got “really nervous” throughout the lengthy negotiation period, so attempted to force the Club’s hand to ensure their client reached the desired destination.
But in the end, the Lions were able to secure premiership-winning ruckman Trent West (from Geelong), promising key forward prospect Jackson Paine (from Collingwood) and a host of draft picks inside the first two rounds.
The ball will now be passed over to the recruiting team who are already busy discussing which players might land at the Lions with picks 7, 22, 25, 28, 33, and 34.
Despite having five ‘interstaters’ head back home this year, it won’t deter the Club from drafting the best possible players from the talent pool – regardless of where they live.
“We’ve already nominated a Queenslander (in Hyundai Lions Academy graduate Jonathan Freeman who will be drafted with Pick No.63), but if we only draft locally, we‘re just not going to be competitive,” Kerr said.
“We have to back ourselves in to get players up there and get them anchored in Brisbane.”
Fans will once again receive an exclusive in-depth account of the Lions' trade period from Rob Kerr early next week via LIONS TV.
