Hawthorn, Geelong and Richmond feature in the best and worst trade deals of the 21st century

FROM the deal that landed Sam Mitchell and Luke Hodge at the Hawks, to Brendan Fevola joining the Lions and the Swans stealing Josh Kennedy, these are the best and worst trade deals this century.

Luke McPharlin was traded to Fremantle by Hawthorn. Picture: Jackson Flindell

IT’S the ultimate tribute to 21st century footy.

Herald Sun football reporters Jon Ralph and Glenn McFarlane have worked through every jaw-dropping, fist-pumping moment of the past 17 seasons — from 2001 to 2017.

They have come up with the definitive list of the 21st century so far ... the good, the bad, and the exceedingly ugly.

Today, they look at the best and worst trade deals.

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FOOTY’S BIGGEST DEALS

BEST TRADES

1. HAWTHORN gives up favourite son Trent Croad and Luke McPharlin to Fremantle in late 2001. In return the Hawks received picks 1, 20 and 36.

Pick 1 turns into Luke Hodge and pick 36 is Sam Mitchell, with pick 20 Daniel Elstone. Hodge and Elstone are still friends and business partners.

Hodge and Mitchell went on to captain four flags in eight years between them, with Hawthorn getting back Croad as a 2008 premiership player.

Luke Hodge with then Hawthorn coach Peter Schwab after being drafted to Hawthorn in 2001.

2. HAWTHORN hands over pick nine and small forward Mark Williams in a complicated multi-club trade.

It receives Shaun Burgoyne, seen to be a talented but banged-up midfielder with little quality football remaining.

He misses the first seven games of the 2010 season with a knee injury but since has barely missed a game in eight years.

Coach Alastair Clarkson hoped to get three years out of Burgoyne.

Instead he got three flags, a million big finals moments and will get a ninth year next season.

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3. HAWTHORN’S Josh Kennedy was from football royalty but seen as a one-paced, big-bodied midfielder in a team full of star onballers.

He was traded with quick half-forward Ben McGlynn to Sydney for selections 39, 46 and 70.

It was yet another masterstroke from Sydney, with the Hawks keen to keep Kennedy but aware the Swans’ offer was more lucrative.

McGlynn was a seriously good player who missed a flag through injury. Triple All-Australian Kennedy last weekend played his 200th game.

Josh Kennedy (right) is covered in Gatorade after playing in his first win for Hawthorn.

4. GEELONG’S search for a star big man continued when it gave up picks 12 and 16 for lumbering ruck-forward Brad Ottens.

The Tigers’ selections became Danny Meyer and Adam Pattison, while Ottens would play a massive role in three premierships.

Meyer played only 26 games of football at Richmond and Port Adelaide and Pattison 66 in six seasons at Richmond and St Kilda.

Ottens’ 2007 preliminary final alone was worth those picks, his 23-touch, 24-hitout, six-clearance, nine-mark game was simply stunning.

5. ST KILDA padded its list with a couple of middle-tier players in Sean Dempster and Adam Schneider — giving up just pick 26 to the Swans.

Dempster played nine seasons as a brilliant undersized defender and Schneider eight as a wily forward with a nose for goal

Sydney chose Brett Meredith with its pick in the 2007 national draft, the midfielder playing only 26 games.

6. HAWTHORN swapped picks 25 and 41 with North Melbourne for Josh Gibson, a durable defender who didn’t seem destined for greatness.

Instead he turned into a champion full-back who won best-and-fairest awards in two of his three premiership seasons.

North Melbourne turned pick 25 into Aaron Black and 41 into Ayden Kennedy, while the Hawks got a steak-knives pick (69).

They turned that into dual premiership defender Taylor Duryea, currently being refashioned as a half-forward.

Brendan Fevola didn’t have the best time at Brisbane. Picture: AAP Images

WORST TRADES

1. BRENDAN Fevola was at the Brisbane Lions for a good time, not a long time.

Brisbane gave up pick 12 and Lachie Henderson for the two-time Coleman Medal winner.

Carlton received pick 27.

But the move hurt the Lions culture and resulted in Michael Rischitelli and Daniel Bradshaw eventually moving out after being dangled as trade bait.

All that turmoil for only 17 games and 48 goals in one season (2010) at the Lions.

As coach Michael Voss said after he was sacked: “I can’t sit here and say it wasn’t a mistake.”

2. RICHMOND swapped pick 19 for pacy Western Bulldogs running defender Jordan McMahon, which seemed an exceptional trade.

The issue was the Dogs used that selection for Callan Ward, and McMahon played only 34 games at the Tigers.

In Round 18, 2009, McMahon kicked the matchwinning goal in a dramatic finale against Melbourne at the MCG — in a clash the Tigers didn’t want to win given draft considerations.

3. ST KILDA gave up a procession of high picks for talented players who never made the grade.

The Saints handed over pick 6 and 31 for Barry Brooks in 2001, pick 17 for Fergus Watts in 2005 and pick 16 for Andrew Lovett in 2009.

Brooks had played just seven games in three years before arriving at St Kilda because of injury.

Lovett was sacked before playing a single game.

4. CARLTON was desperate to lure GWS swingman Kristian Jaksch and gave up pick 7 to get him and pick 19, which it used on Blaine Boekhorst. In doing so it passed on key defender Jake Lever.

Jaksch will likely be delisted at year’s end. Boekhorst is fighting for his career.

Kristian Jaksch training with GWS before being traded to Carlton.

5. PORT Adelaide attempted to add pace and kicking to its line-up and secured Hawthorn’s Nathan Lonie, with the Hawks receiving pick No. 14.

With that selection in the 2005 national draft, Hawthorn received four-time premiership star Grant Birchall.

6. RICHMOND traded pick 23 for Chris Yarran, confident the Blues half-back would transform the team’s ball movement.

He did not play a single game for the Tigers given mental health issues