Greshams agent knew what we were offering (verbally).
He asked that we didn’t formalise an offer - as it would have set a market price. I.e we thought he was worth 550. So the offers would be slightly higher than that.
He asked to present the club offers as he believed there was better deals out there and as he was a RFA the club could match or force clubs chasing Gresham to increase their offer if they wanted him.
So if we had made an offer, a bidding war could potentially have started, meaning Essendon would have ended up paying more. Or someone else would have gotten him.
I still don't understand why we did Essendon this favour considering their well earned reputation for being difficult to deal with at the trade table. Happy to stand corrected if I am mistaken.