Peter Schwab discusses his role in Trent Croad’s trade from Hawthorn to Fremantle
The deal which landed Hawthorn pick No.1 and Luke Hodge was debated for months before it came to fruition. One of the architects reveals the other player the Hawks almost traded west.
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Former Hawthorn coach Peter Schwab has revealed the club hatched a plan that ultimately saw the club jettison Trent Croad for the No.1 overall pick a full season before the trade that rocked football.
But Schwab said the club’s secrecy over the 2001 trade caused unnecessary harm, with Croad only learning of the potential move through the media at the annual 18-club discussions to start the trade period.
The brilliant trade that ultimately saw the Hawks secure picks 1 (Luke Hodge), 18 (Daniel Elstone) and pick 36 (Sam Mitchell) helped set up a golden era, as they shipped club favourite Croad only months after he nearly dragged the Hawks into a grand final.
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Croad would later be traded back and play a key role in the 2008 premiership.
More than 200 supporters attended a Glenferrie Oval protest and president Ian Dicker called the trade “Un-Hawthorn-like” as emerging defender Luke McPharlin also joined the trade package.
But as Schwab revealed in the Herald Sun’s Sacked podcast the Hawks plotted the trade six months out _ even though they didn’t know who they would select with pick one.
“It goes right back to the start of the year. John Turnbull was the recruiting manager. We used to meet every Monday with our staff. So John said, ‘There’s three outstanding players (in the draft). We can get one of them at pick one’. I said, ‘We’re not going to get pick one John, we will be lucky to get pick 10’. He said, ‘It would be great to get one of them’.
“This feedback was going through the year. The conversation kept going. So then we decided the only way we can do it is if we trade someone. So who can we trade to get pick one?
“And we are not trading Shane Crawford. And then we came down to the only two we thought would draw us pick one. It was Trent or Johnny Hay. So are we prepared to give away one of those two? And we all decided that at that point in time Jon was more important to the structure of the team than Trent.
“So Trent was considered tradeable. Not that we would, but he was considered to be tradeable. “So we kept that pretty tight. And then it sort of broke unfortunately we all went round to the rooms at Carlton, the ring a rosy (where 18 clubs discuss trade strategies) and it got out from that meeting that Trent was tradeable.
“And then Paul Connors was his manager. And he got on to me and Paul said, “It is disgraceful that you have allowed this out and you haven’t spoken to the kid. And is it true?’
“And I said, ‘Look, I’m sorry, Paul. You know, the reality is if we can get pick one, which you’ll probably have the player who is pick one, we probably would look at having to trade for it. And Trent would be the only one who would be able to manufacture that.”
Fremantle was keen to secure Croad and Schwab’s cousin Cameron was the Fremantle chief executive, with Hawks assistant Chris Connolly moving to coach the Dockers only months before.
“So it all started to work and it basically went ahead. It was unfortunate and I didn’t like doing it. But I always think you make decisions based on what’s best for the organisation, not an individual,” Schwab said.
“Everyone wanted to go to the board to try to convince the board that it was the best decision for Hawthorn and ultimately, in the end, the board voted that the trade could go ahead. So that was quite political and quite angsty. I just said I backed John in. I just said, ‘John, you better be right’. And let’s be honest, he was.”
The Hawks ultimately chose Luke Hodge ahead of two other Connors clients Chris Judd and Luke Ball, with Schwab admitting there were nervous moments as Judd burst out of the blocks as a future Brownlow medallist.
“Well, you start looking and you think maybe we have made the wrong decision,” Schwab told Sacked.
“Luke was from a different background to Chris. And I sat down with Luke weekly and said, what are you doing? And he was so obvious, he would tell you everything: ‘I had a few mates come up and we had a few beers’. All the things you expect of people who are playing elite footy, Luke wasn’t doing a lot of them at the time, but the beauty was he was so honest so it was, ‘Let’s work on not doing those things and get better’.
“Time will tell. People said at the time Chris looks a better player. And there’s an argument even still that he might have been but the gap’s minimal. And the way it’s panned out (Luke) played longer than Chris, which is quite amazing.”
SACKED: INSIDE STORY OF LINE-IN-THE-SAND BRAWL
Former Hawthorn coach Peter Schwab has finally revealed his dramatic role in the line-in-the-sand brawl against Essendon, admitting he told his players he wanted “retribution”.
In one of the most dramatic on-field stoushes in modern history all hell broke out when the Hawks made physical amends during the 2004 game after Mark Johnson took out ruckman Robbie Campbell in the second term.
Speaking publicly about his role as coach on that day for the first time, Schwab detailed to the Herald Sun’s Sacked podcast how he only fuelled the fire lit by Hawks luminaries.
Club director Dermott Brereton and assistant coach Donald McDonald had already spoken to players about hitting back at Essendon with onfield physicality.
Then, as Schwab revealed to Sacked, he carefully chose his words in a manner which ultimately lit the powder keg.
Hawthorn midfielder Richie Vandenberg would be suspended for six weeks amid 26 charges against 18 players as the AFL handed out $70,700 in melee fines and 16 matches of suspensions.
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Asked if he ordered the “Code Red” or Brereton did with his “line-in-the-sand” comments, Schwab says he did not realise the prelude to his address.
“That’s a really interesting time. I was filthy because they always used to beat us up,” he said.
“So right before half time it was Mark Johnson. He got Robbie Campbell, threw him down and smashed his head into the turf and I was filthy on that. But I didn’t speak to the players directly.
“When I came in, like I normally did, I went straight into the coach’s room. So what went on out there? I’m not 100 per cent sure.
“I could hear raised voices, I could hear Donald, I didn’t hear Dermott. But clearly some things were being said out there.
“I am not dodging it because I don’t do that, but when they came back I just fired them up further.
“I said, ‘I am sick of us getting punched up by this mob, and just accepting it’.
“I said, ‘What happened to Robbie before halftime was unacceptable’.
“I said, ‘If something like that happens again at the start of the next quarter, I want retribution’.
“I didn’t say what sort of retribution. So I didn’t expect Richie Vandenberg to go ballistic or maybe I should have expected Campbell Brown to go ballistic because Campbell was pretty good at that. So it just erupted.”
Vandenberg’s recollection in 2016 was of Schwab saying: “Just make sure this guy (Johnson) doesn’t get off the field.”
Said Vandenberg: “Schwabby was a very fair coach and a very fair man. He said, ‘Enough is enough, these guys are going to continue to bully you unless someone stands up.’ And the rest is history.”
Eighteen years on Schwab has bittersweet memories of a day the Hawks drew that line in the sand but with aggression rather than on-field intent.
“We didn’t improve the scoreboard but I suppose in some ways, at least they stood up for themselves. I wouldn’t advocate violence, which everyone was filthy on me for,” he said.
Schwab admitted that as he watched the bedlam erupt in the third term he knew he had lost control.
Brown was suspended for striking an injured Jason Winderlich while Essendon’s Justin Murphy was suspended for headbutting Simon Beaumont amid the spotfires breaking out across the field.
“I just thought, ‘Wow, what’s this?’ No, I didn’t think it was good. I just thought I didn’t have any way to control it,” Schwab said.
“I know (Essendon assistant) Robert Shaw gave me a real (verbal) pasting as we came back up to the box (at three quarter time). Shawry is pretty feisty. You know what Shawry is like.
“It’s always Essendon, isn’t it? Essendon v Hawthorn, They are two great clubs. People say do you hate Essendon and I say only in a competitive way.
“There is clear respect for them as a footy club and it sounds strange coming from someone from Hawthorn.”
Hawthorn would lose the match by 74 points — their ninth consecutive loss to their arch rival — and Schwab admits his papers might have been stamped by that clash and a run of subsequent losses.
“I think so. I don’t know,” he said.
“Well it depends who you talk to. People like (club legend) Don Scott thought it was about time, but it wasn’t a good look and I never advocate the violence that happened that day. It wasn’t good.”
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