With te annual AFL meat market now underway – Bomber fans should be bracing themselves with a whole lot of nothingness with the club indicting they won’t be actively pursuing any “big fish” trades.

Rumours suggesting that Scott Gumbleton and Cale Hooker would tradebait were scoffed at by the club.

“Scott’s a required player,” Essendon Football Manager Paul Hamilton said. “As we all know he’s had some troubles with injuries over a period of time. In 2010 he was able to play 16 games in a row which was promising and pleasing. This year he’s had a few setbacks, but he’s actually got his body right at the end of the season. He’s under contract and we need him to have a good pre-season – get him stronger, get him fitter, and have a real assault on the season next year.”

And on the subject of Hooker, Bomber coach James Hird chipped in with “I haven’t had any discussions about Cale at all, so I can’t imagine him going anywhere”.

Hird however added that “We’d love to see a fast midfielder who could come and win a premiership for us, but they don’t normally throw them around. We think we’ve got the right amount of depth at both ends of the ground, and we need to get midfielders into the team. That can be done through the draft and that’s what we’re looking at doing.”.

The Bombers however have been linked with young Gold Coast midfielder Josh Caddy but the Suns are demanding a Top 10 selection.