Jade Rawlings has opened up on being involved in perhaps the most infamous AFL trade of all time.
The ‘Lochlan Veale deal’ as it’s been referred to, was a trade that changed AFL rules as Hawthorn and the Western Bulldogs arranged a trade to have Rawlings land at Whitten Oval.
Rawlings, who had played 116 games for the brown and gold, was hoping to get to North Melbourne to play with his brother, Brady, but with the Kangaroos unable to satisfy the Hawks, the Bulldogs entered the frame.
As Rawlings didn’t want to join the Bulldogs, the Hawks traded 19-year-old Veale, who had been taken with pick no. 65 a year earlier, to the Dogs for pick no. 6 – with the promise of delisting Rawlings so the Dogs could pick him up with the first selection in the pre-season draft.
While Rawlings wanted to get to Arden Street, he revealed he never wanted to leave Hawthorn in the first place with the trade “forced upon” him by the lowball contract he was tabled.
“I had no intention of leaving Hawthorn,” Rawlings told SEN’s This Is Your Journey – thanks to Tobin Brothers.
“There were a lot of back-ended contracts that put a lot of pressure on the salary cap.
“I was out of contract and never in my wildest dreams thought of leaving Hawthorn.
“It was forced upon me, it was really poorly handled and we were in a position that someone had to go by the end of it and that was me.
“I got offered a contract that was offensive.”
Rawlings says he was keen to get to the Kangaroos and was disappointed by the “underhanded tactics” that saw him end up at Whitten Oval.
“I know the club had concerns with my knees at the time … but there was an opportunity to go to North Melbourne and play with my brother and the money was probably worth it,” Rawlings explained.
“There were some underhanded tactics that occurred and that basically left me in no man’s land.
“That led me to the pre-season draft where the Bulldogs had the number one pick.
“That was the conspiring among clubs and individuals that occurred.”
The trade ended up being a lose-lose for all parties as Veale was delisted a year later, Rawlings played just 29 games for the club and pick no. 6 would be on-traded with Essendon picking up Kepler Bradley.