ST KILDA coach Ross Lyon says the addition of Bulldog midfielder Farren Ray does not mean the club has lost interest in former Eagle Ben Cousins.
The Saints landed Ray and the Bulldogs’ third-round pick (no. 48 overall) on the final day of trade week in exchange for its second-round pick.
But Lyon said Ray’s signing was not an indication it had shied away from the idea of taking Cousins, also a midfielder, in the NAB AFL Draft or NAB AFL Pre-Season Draft.
“We’re all interested in Ben Cousins but what I’d like to say is that’s clearly in the hands of the AFL commission (to allow him to play)," he said.
"Ben’s health is a priority but everyone deserves a second chance,” Lyon said of the ex-West Coast star who is still recovering from drug addiction and was de-registered by the AFL in 2007.
Lyon said the addition of Ray would bring pace and endurance to the St Kilda midfield.
“We saw the opportunity/cost was reasonable. He’s got a massive tank and we deferred a bit to (general manager football operations) Matthew Drain’s experience as well,” Lyon said.
“He worked closely with him at the Bulldogs and knew him intimately.
"Matthew has a strong understanding of our strengths and weaknesses at St Kilda and felt we weren’t compromising what we wanted to do with bringing in the six kids.”
Ray, 22, has played 75 matches with the Bulldogs since he was taken with the fourth pick in the 2003 draft.
After amassing a season-high 23 possessions in the Bulldogs’ loss to Hawthorn in week one of the finals, Ray was dropped for the side’s remaining two matches of 2008.
He voiced his desire to leave the Dogs at the end of the season, citing a lack of opportunity as the main reason.
But Lyon says the Bulldogs’ loss is St Kilda’s gain.
“He can play half-back so we can continue to release (Jason) Gram, (Brendon) Goddard, (Sam) Gilbert and Sam Fisher. That was the plan," he said.
"We’re thrilled to have him, he’s done his apprenticeship and is ready to go.”
St Kilda, which has traditionally been a big player in draft week, had been linked with names such as Daniel Kerr, Mark Jamar, Nathan Carroll and Hamish McIntosh in the lead-up.
But Lyon said he was happy to make just the one trade and focus on bringing youth to the club.
“We came in with a strong plan that we wanted six picks in the national draft," he said.
"We’ve maintained our picks. We shuffled back 15 places and our recruiting guys were comfortable with that. If they had have said no we wouldn’t have gone forward,” he said.
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Follow all the ins and outs of the 2008 AFL exchange period at afl.com.au/trade. Full details of every trade by every club, plus news, quotes and the very latest via our twitter feed.
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