Aussie,
DEFO actually costs the company money...it will still take around 9years to get to CN but as a DEFO you will be earning more money than following the SO/FO path.
But for the forseeable future the company is limited by training...so DEFO saves them a course. I deally they would only employ DEFOs from now on but they can't get enough sectors/landings for FOs if there were no SOs.
I don't believe there will be any animosity...still a DoJ airline job whether you join as a DEFO /Freighter FO/SO.
cheers