North Melbourne chief of football Donald McDonald says the club is in a strong position following the trade of Hamish McIntosh to Geelong for pick 36.

“Hamish’s departure does create significant room in our salary cap and allows us to now invest and secure the players we see as being a part of the long term future of the club,” he told kangaroos.com.au.

With forward Lachlan Hansen agreeing to a new two-year deal on Friday, McDonald says the Kangaroos’ list is in excellent shape coming off a finals appearance.

“While it was our preference to have Hamish stay, we need to immediately consider the positives. If someone doesn’t want to be at North and give their all to the club, then it’s always best to let them go. We had to try and create a positive outcome for the football club with Hamish’s departure and we feel we’ve done that given the circumstances.

“Hamish initiated the trade and just felt that he didn’t want to spend another year in the VFL with Goldy (Todd Goldstein) in front position when it comes to our ruck spot. Our preference was for him to stay and have two top line ruckmen available for selection, but that’s not how things ended up.

“The ball was always in our court, we didn’t have to trade him, but we felt it was the best option. When you look at our developing ruckmen like Ben Mabon and Majak Daw, we need to give them opportunities and Hamish’s exit will provide that.”

As well as some salary cap breathing space, the club will also have the ability to improve through the Draft.

“We still feel we need to add some quality youth to our list,” McDonald added.

“Looking at the bigger picture, it was another opportunity to get another pick inside 40 and go to the Draft to find some more talent or use that pick to on-trade and get another good player that fits in with our list strategy.

“Ideally we would have liked more than pick 36 for Hamish, but it just wasn’t possible and we explored every avenue. Geelong was the only club that expressed interest in Hamish and there weren’t any opportunities to involve other clubs for a three or four-way deal.”

When considering the McIntosh trade, McDonald says it’s important to consider recent history.

“Looking at similar type trades for ruckmen in the past, Ivan Maric went to Richmond for 37, Sam Jacobs to Adelaide for 33 and Brent Renouf to Port for 33 also. So this deal is comparable to those in many respects but you have to take into account that Hamish is a bit older and has only been able to play eight games in the past two years.”

McDonald also added North will also have its earliest pick in the Draft for some time.

“Picks inside 40 are gold. History shows we don’t finish on the bottom of the ladder and don’t get priority picks. Pick 14 is our best pick since Ben Cunnington at 5 in 2009. So to go to the Draft with picks 14, 35, 36 and 54 as it stands now, is a pretty good result considering our finals finish last season.