The nine most lopsided AFL trade deals in past 14 years
WORKING out a fair price in a trade is a game of bluff, haggling and hindsight. From Kristian Jaksch to Dom Tyson, here are nine deals where one club definitely paid ‘overs’.
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IF DAYNE Beams does want to return to Collingwood, expect Brisbane to drive one hell of a bargain.
There’s no way the Lions have forgotten what they gave up in a trade deal for the star midfielder four years ago, but if the memory was fading a bit the Grand Final provided a stark reminder.
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After Beams declared his desire to move to Brisbane in 2014 Collingwood drove a hard bargain and landed pick 5 — which it used to select Jordan De Goey — Jack Crisp and pick 25, which it sent to North Melbourne for Levi Greenwood. That’s three Grand Final stars.
While Beams has been fantastic for the Lions, looking back that looks like a huge price for any one player (Brisbane also received pick 67, which is used to Josh Watts who was delisted two years later without playing a senior game).
But the Lions are far from the first team to pay massive “overs” in a trade deal.
Here’s our quick hit list of deals in which one team clearly paid too much.
DOM TYSON
Melbourne shocked the footy world in late 2013 by trading pick 2 to GWS for Dom Tyson and pick 9, which the Dees used on Christian Salem. The Giants wasted no time using the selection on midfield jet Josh Kelly (they also had pick 1 that year, which everyone knew would be used to select Tom Boyd).
When an anonymous recruiter criticised the deal after less than one season then-Melbourne coach Paul Roos was outraged, declaring they should be sacked.
But the opinion holds up pretty well today after the Dees traded Tyson to North Melbourne for back-up ruckman Braydon Preuss.
Salem has been handy in 70 games but imagine Kelly getting on the end of Max Gawn’s taps and providing the polish for hard-nuts Jack Viney and Clayton Oliver. If only ...
KRISTIAN JAKSCH
An all-round disaster.
In 2014 Carlton gave up pick 7 for highly-rated GWS key-position player Kristian Jaksch, teammate Mark Whiley and pick 19.
Jaksch never worked out, playing just seven games in two seasons before being delisted. Hard nut Whiley played just two more and the Blues compounded the pain by using pick 19 on
surprise mature-age recruit Blaine Boekhorst, who was gone after 25 matches in navy blue.
Thankfully, pick 7 didn’t really come back to bite them. GWS used it to select Paul Ahern, who never played a game for the Giants before being sent to North Melbourne for a late draft pick. He finally made his AFL debut in Round 11 this year.
JORDAN McMAHON
This didn't age well. Richmond coach Terry Wallace must have really rated his former pupil, handing over pick 19 in 2007 for the left-footer, who played 34 games for the Tigers over three seasons.
The Dogs used that pick to select Callan Ward and when he was poached by the Giants, the Bulldogs received a compensation pick which they used to recruit gun midfielder Jack Macrae. Ouch.
But before you judge this trade too harshly, consider that it might just have been the first step in the Tigers’ drought-breaking premiership last season. McMahon kicked the post-siren goal against Melbourne in 2009 that ensured the Dees received the first two draft picks that year, leaving the Tigers to choose a guy at No.3 named Dustin Martin.
TOM LEE
When Brendon Goddard walked out the door as a free agent at the end of 2012, St Kilda made a series of trades in a bid to turbocharge its rebuild after the Ross Lyon era.
They swapped their first pick (pick 12) to GWS for mature-age forward Tom Lee and picks 24 and 43.
Lee was available to the Giants because he had previously been on Adelaide’s list before returning home and kicking 60 goals in the WAFL. He could never reproduce that form in the AFL, kicking 18 goals in 17 senior appearances over three seasons.
To make matters worse, the Saints also traded pick 13 — received as compensation for losing Goddard — to West Coast for ruckman Tom Hickey (now traded back to the Eagles) and picks 25 and 46.
The draft bounty netted Nathan Wright, Spencer White, Brodie Murdoch and Josh Saunders, none of whom remain at the club.
As it turns out, the picks they traded away didn’t fare much better. Pick 12 became Kristian Jaksch (see above) and Gold Coast used the next selection on Jesse Lonergan, who has played 60 games in six seasons.
NATHAN LONIE
Back in 2005 Port Adelaide gave up pick 14 in 2005 in a straight swap for the long-kicking Hawks wingman.
Lonie played 40 games for the Power in three seasons before retiring at the end of 2008, aged 25.
Hawthorn used that selection to draft Grant Birchall, who now has a lazy four premiership medals.
MARK WILLIAMS
After acquiring goalkicker Mark Williams in a trade with Hawthorn in 2009, Bombers coach Matthew Knights declared: “We are extremely happy with the outcome of this trade deal and think it will deliver excellent short and long-term benefits for the football club ... (Williams) will be a very exciting addition to our forward line and, importantly, he was very keen to come to Windy Hill.”
But after kicking 243 goals in eight seasons at Hawthorn, “the rifleman” booted just five as a Bomber, gone after one season and four senior appearances — a high price for pick 16 in the draft.
The deal was actually a lot more complicated than that. Essendon also traded Jay Nash to Port Adelaide, which helped complete a five-club deal that involved nine draft picks changing clubs. The two picks Essendon received were used on Jake Carlisle and Anthony Long while Port used pick 16 on new Kangaroo Jasper Pittard.
FERGUS WATTS
After being selected with pick 14 in the 2003 draft Watts played just five games in two years before requesting a trade to St Kilda.
The Saints obliged, coughing up pick 17 for the forward who played just one game in red, white and black.
It didn’t all work out badly for Watts, who went on to create a $20 million international marketing empire.
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CHRIS YARRAN
Richmond traded for pick 31 and a future second-round pick in 2015 to secure pick 19, which it gave to Carlton in exchange for the dashing defender who it viewed as the missing piece of its September puzzle after three elimination final defeats.
Sadly, Yarran never played a game for the Tigers, retiring after battles with injuries, mental health and illicit drugs. At least they held firm in a trade standoff in which Carlton demanded an earlier first-round pick.
Tigers footy boss Neil Balme later defended the trade.
“It’s very easy to say ‘this is the outcome, therefore it was a bad decision’ … there’s a lot of experts around,” he said after Yarran announced his retirement.
“If we had hindsight we wouldn’t do a lot of things and it would stop us from taking a risk on almost all the good things that have happened in the world.
“Is it worth helping these young men and taking a risk to help them play the game they love to play? Surely it is.
“Sometimes they don’t work out, but we shouldn’t just go back and say that was a bad decision, therefore you should never have done it.”
DANIEL McCONNELL
We’re going back a while here, but the deal is now more relevant than ever.
West Coast selected McConnell with pick 26 in the 2003 draft but after playing just two games, he was traded to North Melbourne which parted with pick 13 and pick 29 for the midfielder.
The Roos also received pick 18, which they traded to Hawthorn for Jonathan Hay (eight games).
McConnell played just four games as a Kangaroo but the Eagles used pick 13 to recruit Shannon Hurn, now a premiership captain and club legend.
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