saintsfreak wrote:AnythingsPossibleSaints wrote:From what I've been told, Goddard didn't really feel that the club wanted him in the end, at least not those doing the negotiations and so on, so when you combine that with the fact that Essendon showed him the welcome mat and love in a big way, and sold him on the idea that they are going to be in premiership contention very soon, as well as offering him a longer and much bigger contract, it was a pretty easy decision for him to leave in the end.
If we didn't want him then why would we offer him a large contract?
In the end I believe even the club admitted that he was going to be the 2nd highest paid on the list if he had stayed (two weeks or so earlier they said he would be highest paid, so they may have reduced his offer in the last week or so, as has been suggested was the case), and given that Roo had just been reveled to be on only $500K next year, I would suggest that BJ was going to be on less than that (which is also what I was told), as I don't think anyone else would be on more, so a sub $500K contract is not that big, at least not compared to what Essendon were offering him (and for one more year).
Those in charge of negotiations seemingly wanted him to stay, but they may have been a bit "meh" about it, meaning that they were happy for him to stay if they could get him for not a whole lot of money, or without risking a long term contract, but that on the other hand they wouldn't lose any sleep over it if he left and we got pick 13 in the draft, plus a heap of salary cap space, as a result.
Essendon, on the other hand, apparently put out the red carpet and made him feel like he was desperately wanted and I would suggest that he definitely noticed the difference there. Even those of us who support the club seemed to be very 50/50 about whether we wanted him to stay. Many were already talking lots of trash about him, which he would have seen with a quick look on the Saints board on BF, for example, or perhaps he might have received negative tweets and so on, or heard on the grapevine, whereas everyone who follows Essendon seemed to be super-keen for them to get him, many of whom would have made him very well aware of that. Again, he may have felt a whole lot more love coming from them than he did from us, on the whole, making his choice easier.
If we'd really desperately wanted him to stay he would be in Colorado right now, make no mistake about that. We wanted him to stay, but not so much that we were prepared to offer him what he felt he was worth, or for the length that he wanted, while he wanted to stay, but not so much that he was prepared to give up so much in order to do so.
In the end, I think both parties got what they ultimately wanted/what they considered most important, so both parties should be happy with the result.
He gets to the club that wanted him the most and who was prepared to give him the contract length and size that he wanted and who, I take it, he believes will be more likely to be in premiership contention in the near future (which is a huge factor for him, he would still be desperate for a flag), while we freed up lots of salary cap space to go hard for the likes of Mitch Brown and now for someone next year and also got pick 13, which we used to get Tom Hickey and an upgrade on another pick that landed us Spencer White, so we have done relatively well out of it too, by the looks of it.
YOU GET WHAT YOU SETTLE FOR.