The biggest AFL trade blunders that backfired on teams involved
2001 - Fremantle trades chance to draft Hodge
Another year, another Fremantle trade blunder in the off-season.
After losing out on Lloyd, Lucas and McLeod before entering the AFL, seven years later the Dockers passed up two more future Hall of Famers.
Fremantle was at its lowest ebb at the turn of the century and was rewarded with the prized No.1 pick in the 2001 'Super Draft' after finishing with a paltry 2-20 record.
However, instead of making that selection, Fremantle decided on trading the pick to Hawthorn.
The final bones of the deal saw Fremantle receive Trent Croad and Luke McPharlin, while Hawthorn received picks 1, 20 and 36.
Taken No.1 was Luke Hodge, while the Hawks struck more gold with No.36, taking Sam Mitchell.
Hodge wound up playing 346 games, winning four premierships, two Norm Smith Medals and made three All-Australian teams. Mitchell played 329 games, and won a Brownlow Medal.
To make matters worse for Fremantle, Croad played just two seasons for the club, before citing homesickness and re-joining Hawthorn at the end of 2003 where he would become an All-Australian (2005) and ultimately played in Hawthorn's first premiership under Alastair Clarkson in 2008.
2002 - Crows flip top pick for post-prime Carey
Wayne Carey was poised to be a Kangaroo for life before his scandalous affair with best friend Anthony Stevens' wife caused his exit from the club.
After spending a year away from the game in the United States, Carey announced his intention to return to the game in 2003.
Widely considered by many to be the greatest player to ever play the game, a number of suitors lined up for Carey's services before he chose to join Adelaide.
The Crows, who were just four years removed from back-to-back flags, had hoped Carey would propel them to a third and sent the No.2 pick and the No.18 pick to the Kangaroos in exchange.
On the wrong side of 30, Carey struggled to recapture the heights he reached during the mid-90s, but still managed to kick 56 goals across two seasons.
On the flip side, North Melbourne selected Peel Thunder prospect Daniel Wells, who wound up a two-time best and fairest winner at the club in a 258-game career that ended in Collingwood.
2003 - The doomed 'Veale Deal' that everyone lost
After kicking a career-high 34 goals in the 2003 season for Hawthorn, Jade Rawlings was keen on joining his brother, Brady, at North Melbourne.
The Bulldogs, who held the No.6 pick in the national draft and the No.1 pick in the pre-season draft, dealt No.6 to the Hawks who sent back a 19-year-old player who was taken 65th overall in previous year's draft: Lochlan Veale.
The entire trade was essentially a sham constructed so the Hawks would cease negotiations with North Melbourne and Rawlings would end up at The Kennel via the pre-season draft.
Veale, essentially the pawn in the deal, was delisted without playing a game in 2004 and admitted that he was upset at the trade.
"I still watch the footy, but those blokes (from the Veale deal) haven't had much luck," he told the Herald Sun.
"At the start it was pretty hard. I was just finding my feet after a year there and had just got back from a footy trip with Hawthorn and found my feet, made good friends with all the boys, and then thought, 'Gee, I have got to do it all over again'.
"That was a depressing time or annoying time, when you think you have got to do all this again."
1994 - Fremantle blows shot at Lloyd and Lucas
In their final summer before entering the AFL, Perth's newest club Fremantle embarked on a raid on Essendon.
Fremantle was to be coached by former Claremont coach Gerard Neesham, and Neesham was keen to recruit some of his old charges.
The Dockers were thrilled to lure Essendon trio Todd Ridley, Tony Delaney and Dale Kickett to the club, with all three having played at Claremont.
In exchange for losing Ridley, Delaney and Kickett, Essendon was given Fremantle's first round pick (No.4) in the 1994 national draft as well as a concession selection.
Essendon selected Scott Lucas with the No.4 pick in the national draft, before arranging an agreement with Fremantle that would allow it to select highly-touted youngster Matthew Lloyd with the concession selection.
Lloyd and Lucas would go on to combine for 1397 goals and 540 games, playing key roles in Essendon's 2000 premiership win.
Meanwhile, Ridley (21 games), Delaney (28 games) and Kickett (135 games) failed to set the world alight.
What a blunder.
1994 - Fremantle trades rights to McLeod
Unfortunately losing Lloyd and Lucas was not the only blunder from Fremantle in the summer of '94.
As a part of their final off-season before entering the AFL, Fremantle had the right to recruit an exciting young forward named Andrew McLeod who had set the SANFL alight in that year's grand final.
However, Fremantle didn't exactly rate McLeod, trading his rights to the Adelaide Crows in exchange for a young forward by the name of Chris Groom.
Groom only managed seven games for the Dockers before his career was brought to an end by persistent knee injuries.
McLeod would go on to become one of the Adelaide Crows' all-time greatest players.
Moving to a halfback role, McLeod piled up 340 games, two Norm Smith Medals, two premierships, five All-Australian jackets and was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame.
McLeod later revealed that Neesham was at the centre of Fremantle's decision, saying he felt insulted and belittled by the newly-appointed coach.
2020 - Treloar the victim in Collingwood fire sale
It was the trade saga that captured the hearts of fans during the 2020 trade period.
After the Magpies were bundled out of the finals, rumours circulated about Adam Treloar wanting to move to Queensland after his partner Kim Ravaillion signed a deal with Super Netball side Queensland Firebirds.
However, it soon emerged that the agitating for a trade was entirely from Collingwood's side, with Treloar wanting no part of the move.
Collingwood had found itself in salary cap hell and needed to shed money fast, and moving Treloar's five-year, $900,000 per year deal was the easiest way to do so.
The saga went right down to the wire before Treloar was eventually moved to the Bulldogs in the final minute of the trade period.
When the deal was finalised, Collingwood fans were livid with the paltry return the club received for a man who'd averaged a league-high 32.9 disposals per game 12 months earlier.
Collingwood eventually received pick 14 and a future second-round pick while the Bulldogs added Treloar to its' packed midfield along with picks 26, 33 and 42.
To make matters worse for Collingwood, despite trading Treloar, the club was still forced to pay $300,000 of his $900,000 per year on the remainder of his five-year deal.
2007 - Tigers trade away rights to Callan Ward
Richmond during the mid-2000s was as far away from a premiership dynasty as you could imagine.
A club mired in mediocrity, the Tigers decided to pull the trigger on bringing Bulldogs halfback Jordan McMahon to the club.
After being picked 10th overall by the Dogs in the 2000 draft, McMahon fetched the Bulldogs pick 19 in the 2007 draft.
That pick of course became Callan Ward, who has gone on to be one of the most rugged midfielders in the AFL.
Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, they too didn't get to see the best of Ward as he was poached by the GWS Giants to be one of their inaugural captains in 2011.
Ward became a model of consistency after being drafted, increasing his disposals average in each of his first five seasons before averaging at least 20 touches per game from 2011 to 2018.
McMahon wound up playing just 34 games for Richmond across two seasons and it is ironic that his Tigers highlight came via a game-winning goal in the infamous tanking match against Melbourne in 2009.
2010 - Grigg swaps cellar dwellers for premiership
Frustrated with a lack of consistent playing time, Carlton winger Shaun Grigg requested a trade to Richmond at the end of 2010.
Despite being drafted 19th overall in the 2006 draft, Grigg had managed just 43 games in a poor Carlton side.
Eventually, the winger secured his move to Punt Road and immediately became a model of consistency.
He was a key performer in the drought-breaking Richmond premiership side in 2017, averaging 23.1 disposals per game while also playing some key ruck minutes.
The player Carlton got in exchange for Grigg was a young midfielder by the name of Andrew Collins.
Unfortunately for Carlton, Collins did not have nearly as much success for the club as Grigg did at Richmond, managing just 11 games before being delisted at the end of 2013.
2016 - Cats land Tuohy in a bargain deal
Geelong have become experts in the off-season in recent years and it is one of the ways the club has been able to stay near the top of the ladder.
After missing the finals in 2015 with a disappointing 10th-placed finish, the Cats were able to rebound by adding Patrick Dangerfield.
Twelve months later, Geelong landed one of the key pieces of its current backline, Zach Tuohy, in a bargain deal.
Tuohy had become one of the great Irish AFL success stories, playing 120 games for the Blues after being picked 73rd in the 2010 rookie draft.
Geelong gave up youngster Billie Smedts, a 2017 first-round pick and pick 63 in the 2016 draft in exchange for Tuohy and Carlton's 2017 second-rounder.
After managing just 38 games in six seasons at the Cattery, it was thought that a change in scenery would help bring out the best in Smedts.
However, that would prove not to be the case as he managed just nine games before being delisted by the Blues at the end of the season.
2003 - Port's hardball Stevens stance proves costly
Sometimes it can be those trade deals not done that can prove costly, just ask Port Adelaide.
After being drafted by Port Adelaide as an 18-year-old in 1998, Nick Stevens had become one of the Power's most prolific midfielders.
However, at the end of the 2003 season, the Victorian native expressed a desire to return to his home state, nominating Collingwood as his club of choice.
Stevens was coming off a stellar season where he had averaged an equal career-high 24.1 disposals per game in 23 appearances, and Port weren't prepared to sell him for pennies on the dollar.
"We're not going to be bent over in terms of accepting something that is not fair," Port coach Mark Williams said at the time.
Eventually, Port ended up being the big loser as Stevens quit the club and put his name into the pre-season draft where the Blues snapped him up with the No.2 pick.
Stevens played in 104 games for Carlton, and was handed the club's vice-captaincy in the final three seasons prior to his retirement in 2009.
