Essendon remains confident their current player exodus won’t grow beyond four players, according to SEN Chief Sports Reporter Sam Edmund.
Free agent Joe Daniher and running half-back Adam Saad both walked out on the club last week, adding to Conor McKenna’s decision to retire and head home to Northern Ireland.
South Australia-born small forward Orazio Fantasia is also expected to return to return to his home state during the upcoming trade period.
Several other players reportedly remain unhappy, including midfielder Zach Merrett, but Edmund reports that Essendon is confident no other players will want to leave.
“They are really confident that its off-season exodus won’t grow any bigger,” he said on SEN Breakfast.
“They’re saying that the cap and full stop is on this. They’ve lost (Joe) Daniher, (Adam) Saad and (Conor) McKenna and Orazio Fantasia will leave too who could be bound for the Adelaide Crows, they’re resigned to that fact and I wouldn’t have thought they’ll miss him too much.
“They’re confident they’ve put a full stop on it and have it under control as Ben Rutten tries to fix a few things in that organisation.
“They are (still) active in that trade (space), whether they can convince players to come in remains to be seen but they will have an almighty strong draft hand even if it could potentially get a bit messy with compensation for Joe Daniher and whether Brisbane are willing to trade there or not.”
In better news for Essendon, Andrew McGrath has put pen to paper on a new two-year deal, tying him to the club until at least the end of 2022.