COACH Paul Roos says the club’s recent re-signings have reinforced the direction the club is heading.
Roos said he was delighted to have the likes of Jack Viney, Jayden Hunt, Clayton Oliver, Jake Spencer and James Harmes recommit to the club.
“It’s really positive when the players sign and it’s great when you hear the players talk about the positives about the footy club and the direction we’re heading in,” he said from AAMI Park on Friday.
“It is a sign of faith in everyone within the club, from [chairman] Glen Bartlett down, when you get the young guys, who are really quick to put pen-to-paper.
“It gives us a kick as well.”
Roos said the club was also still in the market of attracting top end talent at the end of the year.
“I think with the new rules around salary cap and banking, most clubs have an eye on the future and where they can get to. We’re still very much on the market for A-grade players – they don’t grow on trees,” he said.
“We believe we’ve recruited really well, both from an older point of view, with the guys we’ve got in, but also … through the draft with some of the talent [we’ve added], but we’d love to add an A-plus player.
“It makes a massive difference to your team and we’ll continue to develop our players internally; we believe we’ve got them in the club but you can never enough of those types of players.”
Asked if suspended Essendon key position player Michael Hurley was a player of interest, Roos said he was a player every team would love to have.
“I think we’re all aware of what’s going on at Essendon and if you take a neutral stance, I think it’s great that they [Essendon players] are re-signing,” he said.
“It’s been a really tough period for footy and a particularly tough period for Essendon but I don’t think there’s anyone who hasn’t been affected by the situation at Essendon.
“We’ve seen that with Jake Melksham who came across to our footy club. Every club would love to have Michael Hurley but equally, I think if we’re all really honest about where we want to see footy, we’d probably all like to see him sign at Essendon as we’ve seen with a lot of the other boys.”
