AFL Trade: How Luke Beveridge phone call led Matt Kennedy to be traded from Carlton to the Bulldogs

The phone wasn’t ringing off the hook for Matt Kennedy — until suddenly he had Luke Beveridge on the line. He details his whirlwind trade period and how he ended up as a Bulldog.

A call from Luke Beveridge halfway through trade period flipped Matt Kennedy’s football journey, opening the door for him to bounce to a third AFL club.

Kennedy was told by Carlton he could explore his options to find more midfield time in the trade period and initially there were few takers, until the Western Bulldogs popped up.

The Dogs were on the way to losing Jack Macrae, Caleb Daniel and Bailey Smith and needed to recover some onball experience.

Matt Kennedy in his Dogs digs. Picture: Michael Klein

Dogs coach Beveridge and list boss Sam Power literally came calling but if it took them until the halfway mark to register serious interest, it took much longer to actually get a deal done.

“It was about a week ago I got the call from Bevo and Sammy and had a really good chat with them and really liked the direction and the pitch they put forward to me,” Kennedy said.

“I made the call to try to come across to The Kennel and from there my manager told me it could be a late one. When he said late one, I didn’t think it would be the last four minutes (before the trade deadline). I had a bit of a heart attack there.”

Kennedy tried to distract himself at a family dinner for his father-in-law’s birthday on Wednesday as the minutes ticked to the deadline.

Kennedy was loved at Carlton. Picture: Daniel Carson/AFL Photos

Eventually he landed at Whitten Oval in a four-team swap that saw Smith bounce to Geelong, Macrae get to St Kilda and Carlton gain pick 38.

A beloved clubman, the Blues were happy to help Kennedy find a new home and get some extra money off their books.

Kennedy, 27, is used to moving on, having played 19 games for GWS before being traded to Carlton and playing 99 matches in navy blue.

The four-team mega trade that saved the #AFLTrade period!

LIVE 👉https://t.co/OtXIlFdSuSpic.twitter.com/gP31IbsAj4

— SuperFooty (AFL) (@superfooty) October 16, 2024

“It is a bit of a fresh start for me once again, being at a third club now,” he said.

“For me it is exciting. It is a good, hungry group that has obviously had a lot of success and played a fair bit of finals.

“I am looking forward to writing a bit of my own story here and getting stuck into it day one of pre-season.”