Funny to look back and see the sort of trades that were made back in the early 2000s. No way would a 30+ year old key forward coming off a year out of the game fetch pick 2 these days, even if his name were Wayne Carey. We traded pick 4 for Darryl Wakelin in 2000 and whilst Darryl was a very solid player there is no way you'd be giving up pick 4 for a player of that caliber today. Draft pick inflation, gotta love it.
Yeah, the original trade was picks 4 & 18 but everyone got bumped up two slots in the wake of the Carlton salary cap breach.
Still, a staggering price for a guy who'd had to stand out of the game for a year, had a million miles on the clock and had nominated Adelaide as his preferred destination. While North would've loved nothing more than the schadenfreude of sending Carey into the draft, they surely would've accepted something better than nothing as they reached the end of their golden era.
Contrast to the Nick Stevens saga 12 months later. A gun 23 year old midfielder with his best footy in front of him (supposedly) who was allowed to walk for free lest he made a premiership rival stronger.
Talk about a paradigm shift.