AFL trades: Bad trade deals ... and what clubs said at the time
EVEN the worst trades in AFL history looked like a stroke of genius to someone. Clubs won’t want to be reminded of these eye-popping comments.
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EVEN the worst trades in AFL history looked like a stroke of genius to someone.
Every club has skeletons in the trade closet. Some look a lot worse in hindsight based on factors that couldn’t have been predicted at the time, or just bad luck. But some were just outright shockers.
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In 2009, the Lions thought Fev would help them win a flag, St Kilda was confident Andrew Lovett was the missing piece of the premiership puzzle and Freo thought it had brained everyone in 2001 by bringing in five recruits even if it did cost pick 1 in the draft.
Coaches, recruiters and administrators may not want to be reminded of these comments.
FREMANTLE 2001
The deal: The Dockers trade away picks 1 (used on Luke Hodge), 17 (James Kelly), 20 (Daniel Elstone) and 36 (Sam Mitchell) in the draft and pick up a trade bounty of Trent Croad, Luke McPharlin, Troy Simmonds, Jeff Farmer and Fabian Francis.
What they said: “It’s been a fantastic time for us” — Dockers CEO Cameron Schwab.
BRISBANE 2009
The deal: Brendan Fevola moves from Carlton to the Lions in exchange for Lachie Henderson and pick 27.
What they said: “We’ve been able to get our man. This is about finding the players who can help us get to the next level and I think we have accomplished that” — Lions coach Michael Voss.
Fev added: “I have just got to be humble and go about business and not be a d ... head and hopefully my footy will do all my talking.”
ST KILDA 2009
The deal: Andrew Lovett from Essendon for pick 16 (which ended up at Port Adelaide, who selected Jasper Pittard)
What they said: “We are very pleased to have secured someone of Andrew’s talent. With immense skills and great speed, we have no doubt that Andrew will prove a solid contributor to the St Kilda team” — coach Ross Lyon.
RICHMOND 2007
The deal: Richmond sends pick 19 to the Bulldogs for Jordan McMahon and pick 35 to West Coast for Mitch Morton. The Dogs used pick 19 on Callan Ward. Pick 35 also ended up at the Dogs and delivered Sam Reid.
What they said: “I think with Mitch Morton and Jordan McMahon we’ve added great kicking ability. I think Richo (Matthew Richardson) and Browny (Nathan Brown) would be pretty pleased with those signings” — football director Greg Miller.
WESTERN BULLDOGS 2003
The deal: Jade Rawlings arrives at Whitten Oval via the pre-season draft after drawn-out negotiations with Hawthorn.
What they said: “In terms of what we want, Rawlings is a long way ahead of (Nick) Stevens. We basically ended up getting Rawlings and Peter Street in return for Nathan Brown.” — coach Peter Rohde.
ESSENDON 2009
The deal: Mark Williams from Hawthorn in exchange for pick 16 (Jasper Pittard)
What they said: “Mark is a young man that we targeted and wanted to achieve out of this week. We’re over the moon to have him at our football club.” — coach Matthew Knights.
COLLINGWOOD 2004
The deal: The Pies give pick 7 and Bo Nixon to Hawthorn for picks 10 and 37, which ends up with the Eagles in a deal for Chad Morrison. The Hawks use pick 7 on Jordan Lewis while Collingwood recruits Chris Egan three selections later.
What they said: “We reckon there are four or five very, very good top-line players who will go one to five and from there to 15, 16, the players are probably equal. So, at the end of it, we have come out of it with perhaps the same player we would be picking anyway, and Chad Morrison” — coach Mick Malthouse.
ST KILDA 2005
The deal: The Saints give up pick 17 for young Adelaide forward Ferguss Watts, who goes on to play one senior game.
What they said: “He can take a fair bit of pressure off (Nick) Riewoldt and these sorts of guys up forward. He’s so competitive and brave, you can give him roles to perform and I’m sure he’ll do them really well. He’ll fit in very well with the mentality we’re trying to create at St Kilda” — coach Grant Thomas.
WESTERN BULLDOGS 2010
The deal: The Dogs try to extend their premiership window by trading for Justin Sherman (Brisbane), Patrick Veszpremi (Sydney) and Nathan Dkerrkura (Geelong), giving up a combination of draft picks plus Andrejs Everitt.
What they said: “Sherman comes in as a ready-made player and the other two boys, they are both excitement machines and are ahead of the maturity of the draft pool. When you lose Johnno (Brad Johnson), (Nathan) Eagleton and (Jason) Akermanis, they are all players who had speed as part of their make-up. We’ve been able to rectify that and the exciting thing is they all have great potential” — Dogs football manager James Fantasia.
CARLTON 2014
The deal: Carlton trades away pick 7 for GWS pair Kristian Jaksch and Mark Whiley and also picks up Liam Jones for pick 46 (Caleb Daniel). The first-round pick received in the Jaksch/Whiley deal is used on mature-aged WAFL player Blaine Boekhorst. It’s too early to make a full judgment but the early signs aren’t great.
What they said: “I’ve watched him (Jones) now at training and I’ve seen one of the most explosive animals that I’ve ever seen and I mean that — he is totally explosive ... These lads are going to be fantastic. The No.1 thing I think we’ve got to look at is they’re our No.1 pick, not one player but three, a trilogy. I think they’re all capable of playing and have a fantastic opportunity to play a lot of senior football at this football club and I’m so excited about it” — Mick Malthouse
Originally published as AFL trades: Bad trade deals ... and what clubs said at the time
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