Tom Papley

They wasn't a great offer last year, let's be honest.

What was it, three first-rounders?

Yeah, but look at where they were.

They were right at the end of the first round.

They weren't early draft picks.

Are you going to get better than that a year later?

Well, you don't know.

This is what I'm saying.

And I'm just saying that he's got an open mind about it, which I think is a mature way for him to respond to that question.

No, I think his is mature.

But Essendon had made their mind up.

They weren't trading him even before they got the offer.

I think if they had have had a better deal on the table, then they would have had their head turned, which they didn't.

There wasn't a head turning deal being offered by Hawthorne last year.

I thought Andrew Welch was unequivocal and said he won't be getting traded.

Yeah, well, I'm not speaking on behalf of Andrew Welsh, but I'm just saying that if there was a better deal, then maybe it would have been a stronger consideration for doing the deal, but it just didn't come.

And there may have been some brinksmanship which was applied to all that as well.

But if Zach Merritt – I think at this stage of his career, I applauded the fact that they kept him, and I think that you need to.

And I think there's enough evidence around if you really want to develop young talent, then you need some very good –

seasoned professional players around them.