St Kilda admit trading quality young AFL ruckman Ben McEvoy to premiers Hawthorn has left them light on for big men but say they had to get creative to climb the ladder.
The Hawks swooped on the 24-year-old 91-gamer on Thursday, to fill the hole left by Max Bailey's retirement.
In return for McEvoy, who was the Saints' No.1 ruckman and had been touted as a future captain, the Hawks gave up their first draft pick, No.17 overall, and fringe midfielder Shane Savage, who didn't make their grand final-winning side.
The trade continues their recent history of bolstering their squad from rivals' lists, with McEvoy joining quality Hawk recruits of recent seasons such as Brian Lake, Jack Gunston, Shaun Burgoyne, Josh Gibson and David Hale.
Recruiting manager Graham Wright highlighted McEvoy's qualities on the Hawks' website.
"He was in the leadership group at St Kilda, so that shows you the calibre of the young man," he said.
"He's a fantastic guy and at 24 years of age we think he'll add a lot to us."
Saints list manager Ameet Bains admitted it had been a tough call to let go of McEvoy, who was contracted and highly regarded.
But he said the Saints, who slumped to 16th this year from winning the grand final in 2009-10, needed early draft picks to rebuild quickly.
"We're in no denial about where our list is at," Bains told AFL Trade Radio.
"We need to be quite aggressive and creative to get our club up towards the top end of the table.
"I'd like our fans to know that we've got a very measured and strategic approach to how we might achieve that and this is one part of that.
"What history shows in recent years is the days of one club having a massive win at the trade table is over.
"If you want to build or get well positioned in the draft you need to give up something of quality and unfortunately for us that was Ben."
He said the Saints realised they now lacked ruck depth, but had faith in youngster Tom Hickey and hoped to recruit another big man.
"We've got a few different plans in place," Bains said.
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