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The nastiest trades in recent AFL history
SEN • October 8th, 2025 7:40 pm
Inspired by impending big trades, Sam Edmund has put together a list - The Nastiest Trades.
Right at the top of the list is the protracted saga involving Collingwood and Adam Treloar who was put up in a fire sale and joined the Western Bulldogs in 2020.
See the list of nastiest trades in recent AFL history below:
Adam Treloar
Collingwood to Western Bulldogs - 2020
“This has to be right up the pointy end, and by extension, Brodie Grundy,” Edmund said on AFL Trade Radio.
“Collingwood wanted Adam out as part of that huge salary dump. He didn’t want to go, he dug in, the Pies forced him out.
“They paid $300,000 a year, up until recently, of his annual contract at the Western Bulldogs.
“Adam said he was hurt by being forced out, that Nathan Buckley had called him to get him out. It’s a chapter in Collingwood’s history that is really unfortunate.
“When the deal was finalised, Collingwood fans were livid with the return. It was a paltry return for a guy who had averaged a league-high 33 disposals a game a year earlier.
“That was one was messy, it dragged on.”
Jaeger O’Meara
Gold Coast to Hawthorn - 2016
“This was at a time when the Suns were getting pillaged from everywhere. Poor old Gold Coast just under attack.
“When Jaeger told the Suns he wanted out, Tony Cochrane erupted. He called him ‘duplicitous’ and that ‘he lied to my face when I asked him if he was leaving the club’. When he said, ‘no, I’m staying’, Tony outed him, smashed him.
“That didn’t do any favours at all with the Suns playing group at the time.”
Jeremy Cameron
GWS to Geelong - 2020
“Jeremy Cameron dropped a sledgehammer on the Giants back in 2020 when he told them, as a foundation player, that he wanted to leave for Geelong of all clubs.
“The Giants were heartbroken initially and then angry. Cameron had consistently professed his desire to remain with GWS thought the season multiple times.
“Chairman Dave Matthews later said, ‘If Geelong was bottom four I don’t think he’d be going there, would he?’. Geelong accused GWS of ignoring them early in the trade period. GWS said that wasn’t true.
“It all got very messy. The Giants then matched the Geelong offer via free agency that set up a huge trade. The Cats were the first club to hand over three first-round draft picks for a single player.”
Adam Saad
Essendon to Carlton - 2020
“This was a nasty one too. The Blues and Essendon were at loggerheads for a long time.
“Adrian Dodoro and Nick Austin just couldn’t get it done. There was some serious manager mediation here from Kapital Sports.
“It was bogged down, they had a meeting in an office boardroom to thrash it out. Still they couldn’t get to it.
“It wasn’t until the next morning that a call was made and eventually the deal was done. It was Pick 8 and some later pick swaps.”
Derek Kickett
Essendon to Sydney - 1993
“This was huge in the early 1990s. He was dropped out of nowhere for the 1993 Grand Final and that just lit the touch paper on all manner of carnage.
“He declared later that he hated Kevin Sheedy who had not actually told him face to face that he was going to miss that Grand Final.
“He missed and said, ‘Stuff ya’, I’m going to the Sydney Swans’. He played another 63 games and played in that Grand Final of 1996 that they lost.
“While I think that relationship was repaired 20-25 years later, it was never the same.”
Jason Akermanis
Brisbane to Western Bulldogs - 2006
“He won the 2005 best and fairest at the Lions.
“He was dropped in 2006 after he made inflammatory comments around the coach Leigh Matthews on his personal website.
“He expressed a desire to leave the club, Brisbane fined him $5,000, there was a suspended fine of $15,000 which they later dropped, and he was dropped from the team.
“In the middle of 2006 it was the coaching panel and the senior playing group that held a vote on whether he should stay at the club or not. It went 12-0 against him.
“So he was traded to the Dogs for Pick 34.
“That’s skimming the surface of that one, that was nasty.”
Jared Brennan
Brisbane to Gold Coast - 2010
“He moved from the Lions to the Suns in his prime.
“He left on relatively good terms but Brisbane came under serious attack from its fans and members.
“It was at a really fractious time when players were leaving everywhere. The club was forced to release a statement saying it ‘acknowledged the frustration from fans, supporters and members but you need to understand he’s an uncontracted player and we couldn’t compete with the offers financially’.
“Throwing themselves at the mercy of their own fanbase.”
Honourable mentions:Leigh ColbertPhil DavisJade RawlingsNick DavisLuke Ball
