Which big name players have been traded for next to nothing?

HAWTHORN gave up Sam Mitchell to West Coast for peanuts, but he isn’t the first big-name player to be traded for a crazy draft pick.

Giants Steve Johnson celebrates. Picture. Phil Hillyard

LUKE Hodge sent a cheeky text message to Sam Mitchell after his now former multiple-premiership teammate became an Eagle on Friday.

“I got a quick text from Hodgey,” Mitchell told SEN. “It said, ‘Did you just get traded for pick 88?’ Some things never change.”

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The deal (which also included swapping picks in the 50s and 70s) is crazy for a player who had just won his fifth best-and-fairest award. But Mitchell is not alone in the club of players traded for a draft pick in the high double — or even triple — digits.

In the past two years we’ve seen Steve Johnson move from Geelong to GWS for a fifth-round pick this year (currently 91 and climbing) and Jack Fitzpatrick traded from Melbourne to Hawthorn for pick 94.

Steve Johnson was traded for a fifth-round draft pick. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

Sam Mitchell was traded for draft pick 88. Picture: Michael Klein

Factors like goodwill and clearing salary cap space have led to massively one-sided trades, and sometimes it’s just a judgment of a player’s worth. And sometimes, it’s fair to say, clubs didn’t exactly know what they were doing, especially in the draft’s early days.

In 1994 North Melbourne traded three players — Liam Pickering, Darren Steele and Leigh Tudor — for pick 123. That was the second-last pick in the draft, which was used on Marty Christensen who played 69 games before heading to (ironically) North Melbourne, where he added another two before retiring.

Other prominent names in the ‘traded for stupidly high picks’ club are AFL premiership coaches Alastair Clarkson (traded from North Melbourne to Melbourne for pick 65 in 1995) and Luke Beveridge (traded from Melbourne to Bulldogs for pick 122 in 1992).

Liam Pickering was involved in an interesting trade in 1994.

And Warwick Capper was traded from Sydney to Brisbane for pick 68.

Here are the record-holders for the lowest value trades (we’ve only included straight swaps for draft picks):

Pick 123: Liam Pickering, Darren Steele, Leigh Tudor traded from North Melbourne to Geelong (1994)

122: Luke Beveridge from Melbourne to Bulldogs (1992)

121: Dean Anderson and Chris Whitman from Hawthorn to St Kilda (1991)

119: Tim Allen from St Kilda to Hawthorn (1991)

114: Adrian Campbell from Footscray to Melbourne (1992)

113: Michael Scott from Geelong to Melbourne (1989)

111: Dion Scott from Sydney to Brisbane (1993)

110: Dean McRae from North Melbourne to Sydney (1992)

96: Ben Davies from Collingwood to the Kangaroos (2007)

94: Jack Fitzpatrick from Melbourne to Hawthorn (2015)

93: Anthony Corrie from Brisbane to Collingwood (2008)

92: Ian Dargie from St Kilda to West Coast (1990, used on Jamie Shanahan)

91: Steve Johnson from Geelong to GWS (2015) (Note: the swap was for the Giants’ fifth-round

selection this year which could still change based on other deals)

Chad Rintoul was traded to Collingwood for pick 80.

91: Rod Owen from St Kilda to Melbourne (1991)

90: Steven King and Charlie Gardiner from Geelong to St Kilda (2007)

88: David Rodan from Port Adelaide to Melbourne (2012)

88: Cale Morton from Melbourne to West Coast (2012)

88: Lewis Stevenson from West Coast to Port Adelaide (2012)

87: Simon Minton-Connell traded from Sydney to Hawthorn (1994)

86: Ben McKinley from West Coast to North Melbourne (2010)

86: Craig Somerville from Bulldogs to Brisbane (pick 88)

84: Paul Chapman from Geelong to GWS (2013)

83: Joe Cormack from West Coast to Fitzroy (1990)

83: Trent Ormond-Allen from Melbourne to Adelaide (1996)

81: Robert Dickson and Peter Curran from Hawthorn to Brisbane (1990)

81: Colin Alexander from Collingwood to Brisbane (1991)

80: Chad Rintoul West Coast to Adelaide (1998)

80: Jayson Daniels from St Kilda to Sydney (1992)

Simon Minton-Connell was twice traded for high draft picks.

79: Lance Picioane from Adelaide to Hawthorn (1999)

78: Rudi Mandemacher from Hawthorn to Sydney (1988)

78: Simon Minton-Connell from Carlton to Sydney (1991)

78: Sam Darley from GWS to the Western Bulldogs (2013)

77: Luke Delaney from North Melbourne to St Kilda (2013)

77: Scott Welsh from North Melbourne to Adelaide (1999)

76: Chris Sullivan from Melbourne to Richmond (1994)

75: Josh Hunt from Geelong to GWS (2013)

75: John Ahern from Melbourne to North Melbourne (1990)

74: Darren Holmes from Sydney to Fitzroy (1994)

72: Aaron Edwards from North Melbourne to Richmond (2012)

71: Luke Chambers from Essendon to Brisbane (1991)

71: Shane Strempel from Brisbane to Essendon (1991)

70: Ben Hudson from the Bulldogs to Brisbane (2011)

70: John Barnett from North Melbourne to Collingwood (1995)