Jesse White had signed on the dotted line to be traded from Sydney to Adelaide in 2012 before the rug was pulled out from under him.
The former key forward was ready to begin a new chapter in a new state, agreeing at the end of the first week of the trade period – but that all changed over the weekend.
Adelaide was fined $300,000, stripped of draft picks and banned from completing trades for breaking the AFL’s total player payments surrounding star forward Kurt Tippett.
The ban saw Tippett suspended for half of the 2013 season and led to White’s trade being torn up.
“I literally signed. I actually got signed with Adelaide,” White told SEN SA.
“My partner packed up and told her boss that she was quitting and it happened on a Thursday or a Friday and back then over the weekend the trade period was off.
“We spent the weekend packing the house and looking at houses and the Monday we got the call saying ‘better just hold off there’s been a bit of a hold up’.
“I can’t remember too technical what actually happened, but I think Kurt and the club got banned from trading.
“So my actual trade … my half got done, but the other half didn’t quite get put through and it all got torn up.
“I was still contracted with Sydney for another year and I spoke to a few other clubs at the time and Sydney worked out they could keep me and get Kurt in the off-season, pretty smart.
“So I spent another year there and it was a really great year that last year at Sydney so if anything it helped me out.”
White left the Swans and joined Collingwood the following year.
The 34-year-old has signed on to play with North Adelaide in the SANFL for the 2023 season.