Mr Pumblechook said:
Amidst the Burgoyne circus that was trade week, Peter Rohde said on SEN that they had been warned about dealing with Hawthorn. The inference not being that they like to drive a hard bargain, but that they can be somewhat underhanded in negotiations, moving the goal posts (cue the C. Brown and J. Kennett sideshow).
Hawthorn are an easy media mark for these accusations.
It started in 2007, when Brett Thornton desperately wanted out of Carlton, but Hawthorn refused to go higher than two second-rounders for him. Most football followers though this was reasonable (subsequent events suggest it was reasonable), but Carlton whined like a jet engine about Hawthorn wanting him, but not being happy to pay over the odds during the trade week. But it wasn't Carlton's fault for holding up negotiations by asking too much (for a player they desperately did not want to lose) it was Hawthorn's fault for holding up negotiations by not paying too much.
Then in 2008 Sydney followed up with hardball over Ryan O'Keefe (a player they desperately didn't want to lose) and Hawthorn couldn't satisfy their demands (despite presenting several packages) nor convince O'Keefe to give ground on his high wage demands, which were out-of-kilter with Hawthorn's player payments model. Other clubs nibbled around O'Keefe, but also didn't bite, and Roos would later admit that O'Keefe didn't want to go to Hawthorn anyway, as he was ultra-hot for the Blues. But Sydney whined and whined to, as is per usual, emphasise their preferred public persona as the competition's pristine angel club, and it was all Hawthorn's fault for being able to get a near-impossible deal over the line. Roos made a big song and dance about never dealing with Hawthorn again, and the media lapped it up, and yet - surprise surprise, the Swans were back and champing at the bit to deal with Hawthorn over Kennedy and McGlynn (got very fair deals out of it as well).
And Port... Changed their story about 23 times across the week, yabbered on about a supposed list that they couldn't produce and that nobody could confirm seeing and, despite the all crucial nature of said list, were still willing to continually demand players who, by their own reckoning, were on it as "untouchables" from the get go. And for all the moaning, the deal got done on the Thursday (very fair outcome for Port) and they'll be just as quick as any of the other clubs to get in line and deal with the hawks next year, if the Hawks have something they want.
I don't want any of this to be misinterpreted as me arguing that Hawthorn are the nice guy humanitarians of trade week, btw. I just don't buy the cheap view that Hawthorn are the pat malone bad guys just because they don't choose to run their drafting plays, move by move through the media to garner sympathy and ease the pressure on themselves to take responsibility for getting deals done.
Its not a week for the feint of heart and while some clubs choose to cry, others just get by.
