THE TRADING CHRONICLES 2010

THE TRADING CHRONICLES 2010 by The Oracle

VESUVIUS UNLEASHED?

Trade week fatigue syndrome hit the football world with a vengeance yesterday.

The weekend was looming, a few more player exchanges were announced and, as we all started to relax and ponder on what had transpired in the past few days, the realisation set in that the trade week circus was becoming a snorefest that could only be described in the four word title to the Shakespeare play, "Much Ado About Nothing".

The most exciting story of the day was that Hawthorn emerged as the champion club for the follicly challenged when it came from behind to snatch David Hale from the jaws of the Demons. Hale and Brent Guerra will now be able to compare their respective hair transplants together while watching their idol Dougie Bollinger as he plies his trade on cricket pitches in the heat of the off season.

The beanpole North Ballarat premiership forward with two years left of a $400kpa contract at the Kangaroos was traded for the compensatory pick the Hawks received for Campbell Brown plus or minus small change, thus trumping Melbourne's offer of a second round draft selection. I missed the presser but would have loved to hear Hawthorn football manager Chris Pelchen welcome Hale to the fold where he will make an ideal ruck partner to "Wade Thkipper."

Like many of the names changing places so far this week Hale has been languishing at a level below the elite. Is there a Hawthorn person around who would put hand on heart and say that Hale will be worth the equivalent of a premiership star in Campbell Brown to their club?

Not many and certainly, very few of the Kangaroo supporters who were seen doing cartwheels down Arden Street when the deal was announced. They were joined by a good number of Demon fans who weren't particularly enamoured of the prospect of a middle aged, slowish dinosaur roaming their team's forward line. Still, the proof will be in the pudding next year when he dons the brown and gold of Hawthorn ... or Box Hill!

When you boil down the exchanges that have taken place so far it's clear that apart from the uncontracted Gold Coast players and the Bulldog father sons, it's all been state league level trading.

With all due respect to the players involved, all of the action so far has centred on the washed up and the hopeful types who have been plying their trade in the lesser competitions for the most part - Hale, Veszpremi, Everitt, Djerrkura, Krakouer, Faulks, Bewick and Ceglar. None of them are household names and it's no wonder therefore that the majority of observers were yawning by the end of the week.

For those who crave excitement at this time of the year and couldn't be bothered tuning into to the fiasco that is Commonwealth Games athletics, then Pelchen could well have elevated himself to the status of this year's trade oracle (yes, I'm happy to share this celebrated title with others) when he reportedly suggested we might yet see some trade week fireworks before the football world pulls up stumps at lunchtime on Monday.

I immediately thought of Michael Voss and his daring, dangerous and ultimately destructive escapades of last year but then I remembered that the Brisbane Lions review had well and truly zipped up his mouth and put him in a straight jacket.

Pelchen was talking about the mob from out at Visy Park when he mentioned that one AFL club was "a volcano ready to erupt". It seems that we can expect the action to centre around the large number of players at Carlton who want out and are seeking trades elsewhere.

Still, there's no need to panic because, like most of this year's done trade deals, the players involved spent a lot of their time this year running around in red Bullants jumpers in the VFL. At this stage, Pelchen's revelations are hardly explosive stuff in a football year where sex, drugs and rock and roll have all dominated the news.

Completed Player Movements and Dealings on Day Four:

■ Gold Coast receives Gary Ablett (Geelong), Nathan Bock (Adelaide), Campbell Brown (Hawthorn), Jarrod Harbrow (Western Bulldogs), Nathan Krakouer (Port Adelaide), Michael Rischitelli (Brisbane) as uncontracted player selections

■ Western Bulldogs receive Mitch Wallis in return for its first-round draft selection (No. 20) under the father son rule

■ Western Bulldogs receive Tom Liberatore in return for its second-round draft selection (No. 40) under the father son rule

■ West Coast Eagles receive Jacob Brennan in return for its final-round draft selection (TBA) under the father son rule

■ Western Bulldogs receive Patrick Veszpremi and fourth-round draft selection (No. 73)

Sydney Swans receive Andrejs Everitt

■ Adelaide receives Richard Tambling

Richmond receives Adelaide's end-of-first round compensation for losing Nathan Bock and a third-round draft selection (No. 50)

■ Gold Coast receives Josh Fraser (Collingwood) as an uncontracted player selection

■ Fremantle receives Peter Faulks (uncontracted Gold Coast draftee from Williamstown VFL) and fourth-round draft selection (No. 61)

Gold Coast receives third-round draft selection (No. 65)

■ Collingwood receives Andrew Krakouer (uncontracted Gold Coast draftee from Swan Districts WAFL), Jonathon Ceglar (uncontracted Gold Coast draftee from Murray Bushrangers WAFL), third-round draft selection (No. 55), fifth-round draft selection (No. 78) and sixth-round draft selection (No. 95)

Gold Coast receives first-round selection (No. 25)

■ Gold Coast receives Jared Brennan and first-round selection (No.10)

Brisbane Lions receive first-round selection (No. 5)

■ Western Bulldogs receive Nathan Djerrkura

Geelong receives a third-round draft selection (No. 57)

■ Hawthorn receives David Hale and third-round draft selection (No. 52)

North Melbourne receives Hawthorn's end-of-first round compensation for losing Campbell Brown and a fourth-round draft selection (No. 71)

■ Brisbane Lions receive Rohan Bewick (West Perth, WAFL), first-round draft selections (Nos. 5 and 25) and second-round draft selection (No. 27)

Gold Coast receives the end of first-round Gold Coast draft compensation selection Brisbane Lions received for losing Jared Brennan, first-round draft selection (No. 10) and third-round draft selection (No. 48)

■ North Melbourne receives Ben McKinley

West Coast Eagles receive fifth-round draft selection (No. 86)

NAB AFL Draft selection numbers are indicative only. Gold Coast draft compensation selections do not yet have a number assigned to them. The above list shows only where selections may be placed if no compensation selections are activated.

No trades are official until paperwork has been accepted by the AFL and formally recognised after 2.00pm on Monday, October 11.