The piece of “folklore” involved in Richmond-Fitzroy Hogg tradeBy Andrew Slevison
SEN
18 September 2020 Back in 1993, Richmond sensationally traded captain Jeff Hogg to Fitzroy.
In exchange for the full-forward, the Tigers received Paul Broderick, Michael Gale and Matthew Dundas from the Lions.
Fitzroy had lost gun forward Alastair Lynch to the Brisbane Bears while the Tigers had just seen future star Matthew Richardson return 31 goals from 14 matches in his debut season.
It was a scenario that enabled the deal to be done.
But there is a peculiar piece of information that adds even further intrigue to what was a massive trade in its day.
As legend has it, a Punt Road goal net was also thrown into the mix as an add-on according to former Tigers captain Wayne Campbell.
“I don’t know whether this story is true but it’s folklore that it was actually Jeff Hogg and a goal net for those three players,” Campbell said on SEN’s Bob and Andy.
“The story goes that the meeting was held at the Richmond footy club, they were about to sign the deal and they were taking the goal net down from the end of the Punt Road Oval because they were redeveloping.
“I think it was Glenn Warry, who was the football manager at Fitzroy, and Doug Vickers (Richmond’s football manager). Glenn said, ‘What are you doing with that?’. We said we were going to throw it out, it’s a goal net.
“So they did the deal and Glenn took Jeff Hogg and the goal net for those three players.
“I don’t think it was written into the deal but I think he did take the goal net to the Junction Oval.
“It wasn’t to add to the Jeff Hogg deal but it was one of those folklore discussions. I don’t know if it was real or not but it was a bloody funny story.”
Campbell further highlighted just how significant the deal was which saw a club captain depart after leading the goalkicking in five of six years prior to his exit.
“It was really big because he was a great fellow and a really good player,” he added.
“He kicked a lot of goals and was sort of the shining light. A full-forward that is going ok in a team that’s battling, the supporters really hold them up high and so do their teammates.
“I would have been 20 and you don’t understand the backroom dealings for the first five or so years of your career.
“They traded the captain out, which is massive, but they brought three players in which goes to show (how good he was).”
In 144 games for Richmond between 1986 and 1993, Hogg kicked 306 goals which sits 11th on the club’s all-time goal kicking list.
The Mt Waverley product kicked a further 41 in 40 outings for the battling Lions prior to finishing up in 1996 after tallying 184 VFL/AFL games and 347 goals.
https://www.sen.com.au/news/2020/09/18/the-piece-of-folklore-involved-in-richmond-fitzroy-hogg-trade/
