FORMER Cat Brent Prismall has never played against Essendon in his four-year AFL career, but from 2009 the midfielder will be pulling on a black-and-red jumper.

Prismall was yesterday traded by the Cats for the Bombers' pick 39 in the national draft after the 22-year-old indicated he wanted to leave Geelong for more chances elsewhere.

"It will be good to meet the guys (Essendon players), I've never really seen them face-to-face before," Prismall said yesterday at a news conference at Windy Hill.

"Blokes like (Matthew) Lloyd and (Mark) McVeigh had a really good year last year.

"And even the young blokes like (Jobe) Watson and (David) Hille, who I will obviously be working closely with as a midfielder, will be exciting to work with."

The Cats desperately wanted to retain Prismall and at a post-grand final function chief executive Brian Cook told the crowd the club had offered Prismall a two-year contract.

It wasn't enough and Prismall decided last Thursday to change clubs, choosing Essendon of several of other teams who made offers because of its "professionalism."

It is understood Essendon will offer Prismall a three-year contract, but Prismall's agent Tom Petroro wasn't revealing anything yesterday, citing confidentiality.

Prismall will first have to return from a knee reconstruction over the pre-season after injuring his right knee in Geelong's qualifying final win.

Prismall said yesterday he expects to return to full fitness in the early part of next season but ruled out a round-one return.

"It's good (the knee). It's only a month after the operations but I spoke to the surgeon a couple of weeks ago and everything is on track," Prismall said.

"I have started swimming and started doing weights and hopefully I will have started running by Christmas.

"But I'm not in a rush, I'm going to be patient and hopefully get it right and come back and play some good football."