Richmond’s biggest trade busts and bargains
Richmond has some very scary skeletons in its trade closet. But have some fantastic deals in recent years wiped out years of trade taunts? We name the Tigers’ best and worst deals.
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As if on-field failings weren’t enough for Richmond fans to suffer through for 37 years, the post-season brought a whole new round of Tiger taunting.
From missing superstars in the draft to dud trade deals, the Tigers were the butt of jokes for decades.
But things have taken a dramatic turn in recent years, to the point Herald Sun chief football writer Mark Robinson has suggested a statue outside Punt Rd of recruiter Francis Jackson.
Here are the Tigers’ biggest hits and misses in recent history.
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BARGAINS
TOBY NANKERVIS FOR PICK 46
The Tigers’ 2017 premiership team included a host of recruits from other teams including former Cat (and Sun) Josh Caddy, former Giant Jacob Townsend (acquired for a fourth-round draft pick) and ex-Bomber Bachar Houli (picked up in the 2010 pre-season draft).
But when it comes to trade steals Nankervis is the pick of the bunch after arriving in a swap for a third-round draft pick at the end of 2016.
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Fox Footy’s Gerard Healy says Sydney footy boss Tom Harley sheds a tear every time he thinks about Nankervis, who played 12 games in three years at the Swans, stuck behind Sam Naismith and Kurt Tippett.
“While we offered a new contract to Toby and would have liked him to stay, we understand his decision to move on for greater senior opportunity, and we wish him all the best for the future,” Harley said after Nankervis left for the Tigers.
‘Nank’ is now a triple premiership hero, a fan favourite and was the leading pressure player in the Grand Final last weekend.
Meanwhile, the Swans - who used the pick they received in the deal on Jack Maibaum (0 games) — were left without a ruckman this year after a late-season injury crisis.
SHAUN GRIGG FOR ANDREW COLLINS
“We are delighted to welcome Andrew to the Carlton Football Club, he has already been to Visy Park to see the facilities and it is pleasing to have a young player who is looking forward to playing for the Carlton Football Club and being a part of our exciting future,” Carlton football manager Steven Icke said after the first deal of the 2010 trade period went down.
He was talking about 22-year-old Andrew Collins, who had shown promise in 15 games for Richmond and seemed a fair swap for Shaun Grigg, who had requested a trade after 43 games with the Blues.
“We believe he will be a good fit for our side,” Tigers footy boss Craig Cameron said.
Grigg went on to feature in 171 games for Richmond, becoming a life member after famously playing as Nank’s ruck understudy in the 2017 premiership campaign.
Collins played 11 games over three years at the Blues before being delisted.
PAUL BRODERICK, MICHAEL GALE AND MATTHEW DUNDAS FOR JEFF HOGG
We’re going back a while but this was a genuine blockbuster, with the Tigers sending their captain to Fitzroy at the end of 1993 to fill the gaping hole in attack left by Alastair Lynch’s departure to Brisbane (the clubs merged three years later).
Hogg played 40 games for Fitzroy before a back problem forced him into retirement, while the Tigers gained a total of 274 games from their three recruits.
Broderick was the standout, winning the 1996 Jack Dyer Medal and averaging more than 20 disposals a season over his eight years at Punt Rd.
BUSTS
JORDAN McMAHON FOR PICK 19
This goes down as one of the all-time trade regrets. McMahon was a half-back with a nice left boot.
But Richmond paid a huge price for the Bulldogs backman in the form of pick 19, which the Dogs used on a promising midfielder named Callan Ward. He played 60 games for the Dogs before being poached by GWS, but the Bulldogs received a compensation pick which they used to recruit future All-Australian Jack Macrae. McMahon, meanwhile, was delisted in 2010.
The move did pay off in big way, however. McMahon’s most famous kick for the Tigers won a game after the siren against Melbourne in 2009 — effectively handing the Demons the top two picks in the draft, which they used on Tom Scully and Jack Trengove, leaving a Castlemaine kid named Dustin Martin for the Tigers to take at pick 3.
CHRIS YARRAN FOR PICK 19
Richmond appeared to have scored a win when they held firm on the Blues’ demand for pick 12 for the silky defender, instead handing over pick 19 just before the trade deadline in 2015.
Unfortunately, Yarran never added to his 119 AFL games as he was struck by mental health issues, sitting out the 2016 season then aborting a comeback the next year. He later revealed a harrowing ice addiction. In May last year he hit rock bottom when he was sentenced to five years in jail over a crime spree in WA.
BRAD OTTENS FOR PICKS 12 AND 16
When Terry Wallace arrived as Richmond coach at the end of 2004 the club identified Brad Ottens as a player with trade currency. The ruck/forward was sent to the Cats in a swap for picks 12 and 16, which the Tigers used on midfielder Danny Meyer and big man Adam Pattinson — who played a combined 92 games — while Ottens became a key figure in three Geelong premierships.
In hindsight, it wasn’t a great year to invest in the draft, with only one of Richmond’s five top-20 picks a clear success (Brett Deledio at pick 1). Wallace said later he had little say in the deal.
“He was gone virtually the day that I arrived, gone before I was even in the seat, but what happened when I arrived at the club they said the good news is we got two first-round picks for him,” he told SEN.
“So we’ll be able to realign the footy club with those picks, we sat down and went to the draft with picks 12 and 16. Within three years 12 and 16 were gone — so no longer did we have Brad Ottens or the players that were meant to be the 10-year replacements.
“It’s OK doing it, but if you’re going to do it you’ve got to get it right.”
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