Hawthorn’s biggest trade bargains and busts

Hawthorn can lay claim to some of the best trades ever made, from getting pick 1 from Fremantle to Shaun Burgoyne from Port Adelaide. But they haven’t always worked out.

Josh Gibson was a huge trade win for Hawthorn.

Where do we start with Hawthorn’s trade heists?

How about sending Nathan Lonie to Port Adelaide for pick 14 (Grant Birchall), or sending picks 21 and 41 to the Bulldogs for Brian Lake, or luring promising forward Jack Gunston from the Crows in 2011. What about moving up the draft order to nab Jordan Lewis in 2004? Or getting James Frawley and Ricky Henderson for nothing as free agents. And none of those deals make the top three.

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In recent years there are signs the magic may be wearing off, with Tom Scully and Jonathan Patton failing to prove the steals they looked like at the time — so far (looking at this list, we aren’t writing them off).

But not every deal has gone Hawthorn’s way. Here are the Hawks’ biggest trade hits and misses.

BARGAINS

TRENT CROAD FOR PICK 1

Could be the best trade of all time. It was a big call to let key-position guns Trent Croad and Luke McPharlin go at the end of 2001 but in return Hawthorn received picks 1, 20 and 36 from the Dockers. Pick 1 was used on a promising youngster named Luke Hodge and pick 36 was used on Sam Mitchell, with pick 20 (Daniel Elstone) the only miss. Hodge and Mitchell captained the Hawks to four flags between them and Hawthorn even managed to get Croad back two years later.

Trent Croad during his short career with Fremantle.

Luke Hodge after being taken at No.1 in the 2001 draft.

JOSH GIBSON FOR PICKS 25 AND 41

Josh Gibson spent most of 2004 playing for Port Melbourne’s reserves team and North Melbourne surprised many recruiters when it took a chance on him in the rookie draft. But Hawthorn was the ultimate beneficiary after securing him in a trade at the end of 2009. Gibson went on to play in three premierships, winning the best-and-fairest in two of those seasons. The Roos used the picks on Aaron Black (57 games) and Ayden Kennedy (zero).

Josh Gibson became a triple premiership player at the Hawks.

COLLINGWOOD’S BIGGEST TRADE BARGAINS AND BUSTS

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RICHMOND’S BIGGEST TRADE HITS AND MISSES

SHAUN BURGOYNE FOR PICK 9

The Hawks were prepared to pay up when Burgoyne requested a trade to a Victorian club in 2009. In a complicated four-way deal, the Hawks gave up Jay Nash - who ended up at Essendon - and pick 9, which Port blew by selecting Andrew Moore (60 games). Burgoyne, meanwhile, has become an icon, adding three more flags to the one he won at Port in 2004 and fast-approaching the 400-game milestone.

BUSTS

Josh Kennedy for pick 39

At the end of 2009, Hawthorn could only offer Kennedy a one-year deal as he struggled to break into a midfield featuring Luke Hodge, Sam Mitchell, Joran Lewis and Brad Sewell. The grandson of Hawks icon John Kennedy Sr and son of premiership player John Jr accepted a three-year offer from the Swans - and hasn’t looked back. After managing 13 games at Hawthorn, “JPK” has added 237 at Sydney, won three-best-and-fairests and a premiership. The Swans also landed Ben McGlynn in the deal for the bargain price of picks 39, 46 and 70, although Hawthorn - of course - struck gold with two of those picks, selecting Sam Grimley, Ben Stratton and Matt Suckling.

Josh Kennedy struggled to break into Hawthorn’s best 22.

Josh Kennedy has become a Swans champion. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Shaun Rehn for pick 12

The Hawks won in the end (see above) but the first piece of the Shaun Burgoyne trade puzzle goes into the ‘loss’ column. Hawthorn gave up pick 12 to get ruckman Rehn at tail end of his career - he played 33 games in two seasons in brown and gold before hanging up the boots. Adelaide traded the pick to the Power for Matthew Bode (79 games) and pick 12 became Shaun Burgoyne, who played 157 games in teal, including a premiership, before ending up back at Hawthorn where, remarkably, he is still going.

Jono O'Rourke gets the better of Marcus Bontempelli in 2015. Picture: Michael Klein

Jono O’Rourke for pick 19

This might have been where the Hawks’ trade magic started to wear off. The former No.2 draft pick didn’t succeed in Western Sydney (nine games) or at Waverley (12) but Hawks recruiters won’t lose too much sleep over the pick they gave up. The Giants traded it to Carlton (who used on surprise pick Blaine Boekhorst) in return for pick 7, which they used on Paul Ahern. Later picks swapped in the O’Rourke deal ended up at Adelaide (Mitch McGovern) and Melbourne (Alex Neal-Bullen).

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Originally published as Hawthorn’s biggest trade bargains and busts