Essendon great Matthew Lloyd believes the club should look to use midfielder Darcy Parish in trade talks later this year.
Lloyd said the Bombers should be open to letting Parish leave if they can offer him up to another club in exchange for a centre half-back.
The 25-year-old is a restricted free agent at season’s end meaning the Dons will be able to match any contract offer and force a club to trade for him.
SHOULD BOMBERS LET PARISH LEAVE TO BRING IN STAR IN A KEY AREA OF WEAKNESS?
However, Gerard Healy does not agree with Lloyd’s plan for Essendon to address an area of need.
He uses Collingwood as a the perfect example of bolstering a midfield by not handing up your better players.
“I’m not a fan of this theory,” Healy said on SEN’s Sportsday.
“I’ve said so a number of times that I’m a big fan of Darcy Parish.
“I just take you back to Collingwood. They’ve got a great midfield, they added Tom Mitchell.
“So if you’re going to build a flag you don’t do it by giving away your strengths.”
Referencing ruckman Brodie Grundy’s departure to Melbourne, Sam Edmund chimed in: “But if I can counter that to say that they had Brodie Grundy and let him go to address another part of their issues which was their front half and they got Dan McStay.”
Healy replied: “That’s true, but they did have two other ruckmen (Darcy Cameron and Mason Cox) and they had Dan McStay come in.
“So, to me, you’ve got to build your midfield and you’ve got to keep all those guys you’ve got, and keep adding if you possibly can.
“You’ve got to solve your other problems by not weakening your midfield.”
Four-time premiership player Luke Hodge sees this situation as the perfect opportunity for Essendon to sell the future to Parish.
But on one proviso: do not overpay to keep him.
He believes a player coming into his prime could forego money elsewhere to make a statement to those around him for the good of the club.
“This is where I’d be going to Darcy and saying that what you’re capable of getting somewhere else, take less with this contract and try to build people around you so you can play in a successful team,” Hodge said.
“Yes, they do need a big centre half-back, but if he can start with the selfless part of it and say I’ll take less to keep me at this football club, to keep us together and we can go chase someone we need. That’s the first conversation.
“But if he’s asking for top dollar, I wouldn’t be paying him top dollar. I’d let him go somewhere else, wherever he reckons he can get the most money.
“This is what Essendon has to start to build into the football club that hasn’t been there for a long time. It is take less (money), keep us together, try and build to be successful.
“I’d be putting a limit to what Parish is worth.”
The prolific midfielder is currently sidelined with a calf injury that is expected to keep him of action for around a month.
The Bombers, who own a 4-5 record, next meet Richmond in the Dreamtime clash at the MCG this Saturday night.