Shane Woewodin’s trade from Melbourne to Collingwood was a major football story following the conclusion of the 2002 season.
Just two years after winning the Brownlow Medal, the Demons moved Woewodin on despite the two parties agreeing to a pay cut on his lucrative contact to ease the club’s salary cap concerns.
Collingwood secured the midfielder in exchanged for pick 14 in 2002 draft which Melbourne used to select defender Daniel Bell.
Woewodin was holidaying in Mauritius when he learned the news that he had been traded to the Magpies.
“The shock was very deep. It cut a little bit to be honest,” he told SEN’s This Is Your Sporting Life thanks to Tobin Brothers Funerals.
“I’d signed a three-year deal earlier, didn’t really push the club, and at the end of the day the club also signed that deal as well and it’s not the player’s fault that clubs have salary cap issues.
“Being away and not being able to be in control on the ground in Melbourne was an issue. I needed to get back home to see what was going on.
“I had a conversation with Neale (Daniher) when I was in Bali and he said, ‘let’s catch up when you get back’. Neale came over to my house, sat in my lounge room for a couple of hours and we had a conversation.
“The club was under a bit financial strain and they needed some assistance and I absolutely welcomed it. We came to an agreement (pay reduction) right then and there on the couch, we shook hands, and Neale said, ‘see you in a couple of weeks for pre-season’.
“I never stepped back into the footy club ever again.”
Woewodin played 200 AFL games – 138 for Melbourne and 62 with Collingwood.
He was delisted by the Magpies at the end of 2005.