Carlton’s head of football believes the Club has players ready to step up in the wake of Jarrad Waite’s exit.

Waite informed the Blues today that he plans to exercise his options under free agency. It will close the curtain on the 31-year-old’s 13-year career at Carlton.

The Blues and Waite’s management have been in discussions for some time, and until today it was unclear which way Waite was leaning.

Carlton’s GM – Football Operations Andrew McKay said he wasn’t taken by surprise when Waite told the Club of his decision this morning.

“Obviously we were waiting for an answer for quite some time from Jarrad, and the longer it went, the more we probably thought that he would exercise a right to free agency,” McKay told radio SEN.

“It’s disappointing, in saying that though, we stuck to our guns. We offered him a one-year deal with a trigger for the second year, which is quite an easy trigger to get for a player like Jarrad, but he obviously wants to test the market and see if he can get a guaranteed two years I presume.”

The Blues big man will depart Visy Park after 184 games in the navy blue jumper.

McKay said the Club will look to bolster its stocks over the trade and draft periods, but he believes there are already players on Carlton’s list capable of filling the void.

“We’ve got a couple of guys who can fill the role here, obviously Levi Casboult had a good year, Lachie Henderson had a good year up forward, (and) we’ve got Matthew Kreuzer coming back,” McKay said.

Meanwhile McKay has denied reports that Carlton is in the hunt for Western Bulldogs restricted free agent Shaun Higgins, while he has confirmed there would be interest in Sydney’s Tom Mitchell “only if he decides to leave and wants to come back to Melbourne”.