AFL Trading 1994: Tigers, Magpies Miss Out On Lockett
October 8th 2006 07:07
www.aflinsider.netIt was a tumultuous season for Saints forward Tony Lockett in 1994. The Peter Caven incident, the Saints' inability to become a Grand Final team, many factors combined that year that made a Lockett trade inevitable.
The only question was which team would acquire Lockett, Richmond and Collingwood were the favourites. The Tigers had been stuck down the bottom of the ladder for a long time and the acquisition of Lockett would have been huge at the time. Imagine Lockett in his prime with a youthful Matthew Richardson together in the forward line. In 1994 Collingwood could not get back to its 1990 form, but had a young Buckley, Paul Williams and Scott Burns on their list.
The Saints ended up getting an early draft pick from Sydney, which they used on Joel Smith, and another pick from Hawthorn, which was used on Chris Hemley. Hawthorn received Simon Minton-Connell from Sydney in the deal, and also sent Glenn Nugent to the Saints. That year Richmond used their first two draft picks on Damien Ryan and Jason Torney, Collingwood used theirs on Ben Wilson and Chad Liddell. To think that those two Victorian teams could have traded the picks, and maybe a player or two, to get Lockett must make people question what went wrong.
It got to the end of the trading period in 1994, and when it was announced that Sydney had Lockett and that Collingwood and Richmond couldn't seal the deal it was a big surprise. The Swans were instantly turned around and two seasons later they were in the Grand Final. But that Swans Grand Final team, like the Saints and Magpies in later years, didn't win. But Lockett was also a big help financially for the Swans, and with the addition of Lockett and Roos to the Swans they became a respected team in the league.
If Richmond or Collingwood had managed to snare Lockett they might have been improved on and off the field. The Tigers had a great year in 1995, one game from a Grand Final. Lockett may have been enough to win it all for the Tigers in 1995. Richardson, Naish, Brendan Gale, Daffy and Lockett up forward would have been a potent attack. Collingwood still had a good midfield with big Monkhorst tapping the ball to onballers McGuane, Francis, Williams and Wright. If they had both Lockett and Saverio Rocca to send the ball to it would have been impressive.
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