Worst Club Switch in Modern AFL Era - Top 5

Worst Jumper Swap of the AFL Era?

  • Wayne Carey

    Votes: 16 7.8%

  • Adam Treloar

    Votes: 7 3.4%

  • Brett Deledio

    Votes: 74 36.3%

  • Ryan Griffen

    Votes: 16 7.8%

  • Brandan Goddard

    Votes: 20 9.8%

  • Ben Cousins

    Votes: 6 2.9%

  • Nathan Buckley

    Votes: 59 28.9%

  • Other

    Votes: 6 2.9%
  • Total voters
    204

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Jack Steven looks set to be cut, it was worth a risk, but a 4 time B&F winner that plays only a handful games at his new club must be considered up there.

Brett Deledio was just unlucky with injury and judgement.

Dayne Beams from Brisbane to Collingwood was a win for one club only, but who knew?

Bryce Gibbs Carlton to Adelaide and the Crows ruined it.

Buddy Franklin, some will argue it was a huge success, but was it? Still has two years to go, does anybody really believe that will happen?

That's my top 5 A graders who were still playing good footy at the time of departure.

I won't include Ablett jr as his years 2011 - 14 were some of the best years this competition has ever seen.
 
Buckleys one definitely has the greatest irony:

"I want to play in a premiership side"

Next minute, the side he leaves win 3 flags, 2 of which were at his expense.

And for some additional irony, he had signed a letter of intent to play at North Melbourne, which he reneged on to go to the Pies, who also won 2 flags over the course of his career.
 

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JackFlash said:
Jack Steven looks set to be cut, it was worth a risk, but a 4 time B&F winner that plays only a handful games at his new club must be considered up there.

Brett Deledio was just unlucky with injury and judgement.

Dayne Beams from Brisbane to Collingwood was a win for one club only, but who knew?

Bryce Gibbs Carlton to Adelaide and the Crows ruined it.

Buddy Franklin, some will argue it was a huge success, but was it? Still has two years to go, does anybody really believe that will happen?

That's my top 5 A graders who were still playing good footy at the time of departure.

I won't include Ablett jr as his years 2011 - 14 were some of the best years this competition has ever seen.
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Stevens clearly had his issues but you got him for what? A pick in the 50s? Worth a go as he was a machine in his early years


The bryce Gibbs one is a good point. Was a premium midfielder at Carlton, but didn't fit into Adelaide and probably cut his career short by 1/2 years and struggled to get games
 
Upgrayedd said:
Im confused by this Agenda posting, Every player OP put in bar Nathan Buckley and Adam Treloar struggled with the club

Lets not pretend Adam Treloar is some absolute potato, He's a good player, he may have no thrived where GWS had Scully/Whitfield around, He's been moderately successful in his career

Nathan Buckley had an absolute stunning career, Yes didn't win a premiership but came absolutely close, Norm Smith, Brownlow, 7 AA jumpers.

Honestly these absolute bait threads are embarrassing. Go back to bumping the Treloar picks Collingwood threads, Whats he supposed to say? "I don't want to win premiership so I picked Collingwood purely for personal fulfillment/money/and I generally felt a comfort with the meeting and it will help me grow into the best player I can be"

Piss off.
Click to expand...

Bucks is the prime example because he was SO GOOD & was there when the Lions won.
 
The wily weagle said:
Buckleys one definitely has the greatest irony:

"I want to play in a premiership side"

Next minute, the side he leaves win 3 flags, 2 of which were at his expense.

And for some additional irony, he had signed a letter of intent to play at North Melbourne, which he reneged on to go to the Pies, who also won 2 flags over the course of his career.
Click to expand...

He left 8 seasons before they won anything. It's not like he walked out the door and suddenly they were amazing.
 
Upgrayedd said:
Stevens clearly had his issues but you got him for what? A pick in the 50s? Worth a go as he was a machine in his early years


The bryce Gibbs one is a good point. Was a premium midfielder at Carlton, but didn't fit into Adelaide and probably cut his career short by 1/2 years and struggled to get games
Click to expand...


I haven't been keeping track of what the scenario is right now but I would want to give him one more year. Clearly was a bit unprepared this season and getting stabbed doesn't help
 
where to start?
  • Jonathan Hay from the Hawks to the Roos - one or two 1st round draft picks for 8 games at North, before he bailed on the club
  • Bryce Gibbs from the Blues to Crows - we all know how that panned out
  • Xavier Richards - requested a trade from Sydney because he didn't like living in Sydney as it was expensive... ended up at Sydney Uni in the NEAFL
  • Andrew Lovett from Bombers to Saints - almost immediately after the Saints farewelled their precious pick no. 16 (?), the scandals set in and Lovett never played a game for them
Fevola for mine is one of the worst because of the collateral damage - he came in and effectively forced out good Brisbane players like Rischitelli, Bradshaw and Henderson (granted people thought Henderson was going to be good back then).

Honourable mention to Beams' return to Collingwood although that story sure is murky
 
Tzatziki_Man said:
2. Ben Cousins
Swap: West Coast to Richmond
Summary: In this tragic story - one of the greatest players of the 21st Century reaches the ultimate success with the Eagles of 2006. However, beneath the victories was a sickness - like much of society, Cousins was tangled in illicit drug use. The frightening lows he reached crossed the line for footy supporters, do I give the eagle supporters sh*t or is this issue far too serious? It was far too serious.

Ben Cousins later finds himself at Punt Road. His initial training session attended by approximately 10,000 success starved Richmond fans. The fifth year of Terry Wallace's contract, without a finals appearance, Richo almost claiming a Brownlow reigniting his career on the wing. Cousins joined the main group like the ultimate messiah - Tigers had won 8 of the last 9 to finish 9th and 2009 was the next leap into the top 8.

In his debut - Richmond lost by 80 points to Carlton, Cousins tears his hamstring in his debut and we soon realise he sadly was a shell of his former self. Ouch.
Click to expand...

I remember hearing some stories from his time at Richmond, and to be honest, he probably had a decent part to play in Richmond's later success, and for all that can be said about his antics away from the club(s), in house, he was a hard working professional, and that was a good thing for the likes of Deledio, Cotchin & Martin to learn from. (Sadly, Richmond didn't have a lot of in house examples of how a top level mid trains, works, and thinks).
 
tswizzle said:
where to start?
  • Jonathan Hay from the Hawks to the Roos - one or two 1st round draft picks for 8 games at North, before he bailed on the club
  • Bryce Gibbs from the Blues to Crows - we all know how that panned out
  • Xavier Richards - requested a trade from Sydney because he didn't like living in Sydney as it was expensive... ended up at Sydney Uni in the NEAFL
  • Andrew Lovett from Bombers to Saints - almost immediately after the Saints farewelled their precious pick no. 16 (?), the scandals set in and Lovett never played a game for them
Fevola for mine is one of the worst because of the collateral damage - he came in and effectively forced out good Brisbane players like Rischitelli, Bradshaw and Henderson (granted people thought Henderson was going to be good back then).

Honourable mention to Beams' return to Collingwood although that story sure is murky
Click to expand...

Household names all of them.
 
telsor said:
I remember hearing some stories from his time at Richmond, and to be honest, he probably had a decent part to play in Richmond's later success, and for all that can be said about his antics away from the club(s), in house, he was a hard working professional, and that was a good thing for the likes of Deledio, Cotchin & Martin to learn from. (Sadly, Richmond didn't have a lot of in house examples of how a top level mid trains, works, and thinks).
Click to expand...

Well said, Richmond well done.
 
Upgrayedd said:
Stevens clearly had his issues but you got him for what? A pick in the 50s? Worth a go as he was a machine in his early years


The bryce Gibbs one is a good point. Was a premium midfielder at Carlton, but didn't fit into Adelaide and probably cut his career short by 1/2 years and struggled to get games
Click to expand...
Steven hasn't cost them much accept some dollars to pay out 2021, it's a shame because he was a real bull...i thought he had a couple of good years left? C'est la vie.
 
telsor said:
I remember hearing some stories from his time at Richmond, and to be honest, he probably had a decent part to play in Richmond's later success, and for all that can be said about his antics away from the club(s), in house, he was a hard working professional, and that was a good thing for the likes of Deledio, Cotchin & Martin to learn from. (Sadly, Richmond didn't have a lot of in house examples of how a top level mid trains, works, and thinks).
Click to expand...
As much of a trainwreck as Cousins is. His professionalism at training was more then you could ever expect
 

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Ron The Bear said:
Most seasons played at a club without a flag where old team won flag in first year after switch. None won a flag at their new club.

SeasonsPlayerClubFirstLastNew clubFirst
12Deledio, BrettRich20052016GWS2017
11Andrews, RonEss19731983Coll1984
9Clarkson, AlastairN.M.19871995Melb1996
9Clarke, AnsellCarl19291937St.K1938
8Conca, ReeceRich20112018Frem2019
8Vickery, TyRich20092016Haw2017
8Murphy, ThomasHaw20052012G.C.2013
8Pagan, DenisN.M.19671974Syd1975
7Grant, JarradW.B.20092015G.C.2016
7Considine, EdEss19861992Syd1993
7Cloke, David*Coll19831989Rich1990
7Mangels, AlanCarl19741980Geel1981
7Fitzgerald, JimGeel19441950St.K1951
7Tyson, CharlieColl19201926N.M.1927
6Kingsley, Kent*Geel20012006Rich2007
6Green, KaseyW.C.20002005N.M.2006
6Stevens, NickP.A.19982003Carl2004
6Robbins, BenBris19962001N.M.2002
6Young, Barry*Ess19941999Haw2000
6Brown, David J.Adel19911996P.A.1997
6Kourkoumelis, SpiroCarl19811986St.K1987
6Catoggio, VinCarl19731980Melb1981
6McCarthy, GeraldHaw19721977Fitz1978
6Shea, KeithCarl19321937Haw1945
6Baker, RegColl19221928Rich1928
6Murphy, LaurieColl19211926N.M.1928
6Snell, ArchieCarl19021907Ess1908

* second club
Click to expand...
Reckon Clarko's probably OK with it now.
 
Michael Jordan
Andrew Bynum
Giovanni Dos Santos
Wayne Rooney
Andrew Wills
 
I would've thought that the Buckley decision would be a no brainer so I'm a bit surprised at the lack of votes.

Fair enough he won individual awards but you play footy to win flags.

Makes it even funnier that he said he was leaving for success and then missed out on a 3-peat.
 
Some Idiot said:
Wasn't Buckley's switch a pre-arranged plan? Played for the bears for one year as an afl ambassador to promote the game.
Click to expand...

Buckley to Brisbane and then Collingwood is a cracker of a story, and suggests there is some cosmic karma involved:

IT WAS nearly 20 years ago, but former North Melbourne powerbroker Greg Miller remembers the moment as if it was yesterday when he and coach Denis Pagan met a young Nathan Buckley, who at the time appeared more interested in munching on an apple than dealing with the Kangaroos.

''I was there. That was at the Sheraton after the Rising Star,'' Miller said this week. ''He met with us but, again, he was very immature, sitting in the room with the people who signed him. I remember that day.''

That day was when Buckley, who had just quit the Brisbane Bears after a season, confirmed to North officials he would not join the club in time for the 1994 campaign, ending two years of haggling between the Kangaroos, Collingwood and Brisbane Bears that even involved the Magpies, unbeknown to Buckley, briefly hiring a fake player-agent for him and a private investigator secretly recording interviews between the warring Bears and the Magpies.

It was also the first of two ''sliding doors'' moments between Buckley and the Kangaroos. Had he joined North as a player, Miller believes he could have helped the club to four premierships in the 1990s. The Roos would win two.

Buckley would twice play in grand finals for the Magpies, but wouldn't taste success.

Buckley would also spurn the Kangaroos 16 years later when president James Brayshaw and chief executive Eugene Arocca, also a good friend of Buckley's, wanted him as coach after the departure of Dean Laidley.

It was this move that sparked the Magpies to enact their own ''Kirribilli agreement'' with Mick Malthouse, and for a secret push by North director Ron Joseph to pursue Malcolm Blight and Wayne Carey in a coaching double-act.

It remains to be seen whether Buckley can guide the Magpies to a flag before Brad Scott does with a developing North Melbourne list. That picture will become slightly clearer tonight when Buckley faces North Melbourne for the first time as a senior coach.

''Irrelevant,'' a no-nonsense Buckley insisted this week when asked how close he had been to accepting a deal to coach North.

That may be true but his history with North Melbourne remains a talking point for those from the club who dealt with him in the 1990s, and in more recent times.

''There is a long history there,'' Miller said. ''He signed with us in '91, a week after he played his first senior practice match in central Australia in Alice Springs with Port Adelaide.''

Buckley, as a naive 20-year-old, did sign, for three years, and was paid a $10,000 sign-on fee, literally in a brown paper bag in the carpark at Alberton Oval by Miller, a sum he would return home with and count on the kitchen table and divide into $1000 parcels.

The ''scheming and skullduggery'', as Buckley put it, which followed, makes for a ripping tale, and one that was detailed in Buckley's autobiography - Nathan Buckley, All I Can Be.

To avoid having to worry about other clubs taking Buckley at the 1992 national draft, Miller had been able to persuade the AFL that Buckley was of Northern Territory origin, despite being born in South Australia, and therefore was zoned to Brisbane as the Bears had priority access to any Territory player at the time.

That Buckley should have at least played a reserves match for the Bears to comply with this ruling was overlooked at the time.

Miller hoped this would then allow him to deal directly with the Bears, allowing Buckley to join North in 1993.

However, the Magpies were soon made aware of this tactic, which they felt was illegal, and hijacked North's plans.

The Bears, tired of being abused since their inception, suddenly decided to play hard ball under coach Robert Walls and not release Buckley during the 1992 trade period. Initially against his wishes, Buckley had little option but to play with Brisbane by default in 1993.

Once that year was over, though, Buckley made it clear he was leaving for Melbourne.

North was hopeful he would reject Carlton, Geelong, Essendon and Collingwood and still head to Arden Street - until Miller and Pagan met him after the Rising Star award, which Buckley had won.

Wayne Carey details these events in his book, Wayne Carey: The Truth Hurts.

''They walked into the room and, as the story was repeatedly told to us later, Nathan didn't get off the bed to greet them. He just lay back with his head resting on his hands, occasionally moving one of them to take a bite out of an apple,'' Carey wrote. ''The North officials were slightly taken aback by this offhand treatment, but went about pleading their case and selling the club as a great destination for an ambitious young footballer.

''A short time later, Nathan sent back word to the Roos saying he wanted to play in a premiership side and he didn't think that North Melbourne was going to see much September action in the short term so he was politely declining our invitation.

''Well, didn't that get a few people riled at North? Denis [Pagan] was all steamed up, as were others, not so much at Nathan's decision to spurn the Roos - although that was hard enough to take given that we had been the first to sign him up and paid him $10,000 - but the reasons he gave. As though we were a bunch of no-hopers.''

Pagan would remind his players before every Collingwood game how Buckley, ''looking like f---ing Marilyn Monroe'', had disrespected them, prompting many of his players to mercilessly sledge the champion midfielder.

''You didn't want to play here, but who's playing in the finals now?'' was one sledge.

Carey, who has recently scolded Buckley over the Magpies' decision to suspend Dane Swan, told The Saturday Age this week: ''The Denis Pagan story. He would bring it up every time that we played them. I heard that story a few times.''

Said Miller: ''There was an ongoing angst by our players against him because he said to us when he reneged under contract that he wanted to play finals because during the '90s, when we were playing finals and Collingwood wasn't, the boys kept reminding him.

''We had a very loud-mouth group of players who wouldn't play with the current no-pushing, no-mouthing-off rules.

''We had guys like David King, and [Mick] Martyn, and [Dean] Laidley, [Glenn] Archer and Carey, we had some of the biggest mouths in the game. That was just the way of the time, they were all pretty good at it.''

One player who did not sledge Buckley was Wayne Schwass, who would match up on the six-time Copeland Trophy winner.

''He was probably one of the only blokes I didn't get stuck into. He wasn't one of the guys that you could have a crack at because he wouldn't have a crack back. You would leave it alone,'' he said.

According to Carey, Buckley would struggle to dominate the Kangaroos through his career. Buckley later admitted he had not handled the contractual discussions well with his eventual player manager, Geof Motley.

''Despite my justification at the time, I'm not proud of the way I treated Greg Miller and North,'' he wrote. ''I had a choice - to stand firm and see where it all ended, or to jump ship. The fact is, I reneged on a contract, legal or otherwise, and there's no sidestepping that. I was an immature 20-year-old, ignorant about the circumstances I found myself in. But at the time I felt more like a pawn being moved by far more influential characters than me.''

What North had conveniently forgotten through the years was that Buckley had returned the $10,000 in 1992, secretly directing the money into a North bingo account after the club had refused to take the money because Buckley had felt ''they wanted to maintain the moral high ground''.

When Brayshaw approached Buckley to lead his club in 2009, it was a very different man the Kangaroos were dealing with. As captain of the Magpies, Buckley had emerged as one of the great leaders and his tactical acumen meant he was destined to become a coach.

Just where, though, was an intriguing debate, even though it was felt he would eventually land at Collingwood. That did not stop North from wooing him, a move that heaped pressure on the Magpies and prompted worried Collingwood president Eddie McGuire to broker a deal that gave coach Mick Malthouse two more years before Buckley would replace him.

The North Melbourne board would have endorsed Buckley had Brayshaw and Arocca been successful but some directors did have concerns.

Ron Joseph said this week: ''In my view, I felt that, just like a boss, he needed to go out in the world and learn under somebody who had experience.''

Buckley would do that under Malthouse for two years and now has the Magpies primed for another run at a premiership.

Miller, for one, has been impressed with Buckley's development through the years and what he has achieved this season. Any bitterness from the post-season of 1994 has long gone.

''He has grown up an immense amount since then and he has made his quiet apologies and he has written things in books and done all sorts of things,'' Miller said.

''You have got to admire him, the way he has handled it since then. He was a very young kid at the time, was seduced by Collingwood. Obviously he would have played in premierships [at North], maybe more than two … if he had stayed in Brisbane, he would have played in [three].

''At the end of the day, he has been at a great club and he is now coaching that great club. While he has missed out on match-day premierships [as a player], he now has the opportunity to coach a day premiership.

''In those days, when he was young and he had those nicknames, players used to give it to him on the field because he made some naive junior comments.

''I have got to say, personally, he got his peace with me pretty early because he was very open and very honest and said it as it was. Personally, I am proud of him at what he has achieved.''
Click to expand...
 
Stephen O'Reilly from Freo to the Blues would be up there from the Carlton side of things
 
Bunk Moreland said:
Deledio easily. Worst decision to move in the history of the game.
Click to expand...

Brett Deledio is definitely part of the Pete Best club. Plays at Richmond 2005-2016 with the Tigers having some terrible seasons and losing the only finals they played in in 2013, 2014 and 2015. Crosses to GWS at the end of 2016 after a dismal year by Richmond and GWS narrowly losing the Preliminary Final only for Richmond to easily beat GWS in a 2017 Preliminary Final and then win the premiership next week. In 2018 GWS narrowly lose to Collingwood in the semi final, then the Magpies thrash minor premiers Richmond in the Preliminary Final. In 2019 and his final season, Brett Deledio is injured and misses the Giants' first Grand Final against Richmond, which the Tigers win by 89 points.
 
JayJ20 said:
Deledio the worst IMO.

Deledio spend all those years at Richmond when they were a basket case. Leaves for success and his former team kicks his team out of the prelim to go on and win the premiership the very next year. Then they go on to establish a dynasty.
Click to expand...

And Richmond meet GWS again in the 2019GF and absolutley destroy them. Deledio is not in the GWS team though. But yeah he looks pretty unhappy after the game. But in 2017 he did not watch the GF and did family things that day but for sure deep in his heart he knew Richmond were going to win.
 
Tzatziki_Man said:
1. Wayne Carey
Swap: North Melbourne to Adelaide
Summary: Carey and his teammates are on the verge of a dynasty. Three Grand Finals in four seasons and two premierships to their name. The North Melbourne Football Club look set to enter the 21st Century with momentum and contention.

That is until Carey is caught romping the misses of his teammate. North Melbourne crumble - one scandal bringing down an entire clubs era of success. Carey moves to Adelaide and struggles to recreate the magic he once had.

2. Ben Cousins
Swap: West Coast to Richmond
Summary: In this tragic story - one of the greatest players of the 21st Century reaches the ultimate success with the Eagles of 2006. However, beneath the victories was a sickness - like much of society, Cousins was tangled in illicit drug use. The frightening lows he reached crossed the line for footy supporters, do I give the eagle supporters sh*t or is this issue far too serious? It was far too serious.

Ben Cousins later finds himself at Punt Road. His initial training session attended by approximately 10,000 success starved Richmond fans. The fifth year of Terry Wallace's contract, without a finals appearance, Richo almost claiming a Brownlow reigniting his career on the wing. Cousins joined the main group like the ultimate messiah - Tigers had won 8 of the last 9 to finish 9th and 2009 was the next leap into the top 8.

In his debut - Richmond lost by 80 points to Carlton, Cousins tears his hamstring in his debut and we soon realise he sadly was a shell of his former self. Ouch.

3. Brendan Goddard
From: St.Kilda to Essendon
Summary: The Bombers looked on the up at this stage and the wily veteran wanted to reignite his career somewhere else. His experience to prove valuable - could he nab this elusive premiership with the Bombers? Unfortunately no.

Essendon were tangled in the supplements saga and Goddard had to make chicken salad out of chicken sh*t. His career without a stain, but with a final chapter he would choose to forget.

4. Nathan Buckley
From: Brisbane Bears to Collingwood
Summary: Misses three premierships and the extra salt would be he captained the team that lost two of those three premierships. Disaster for a player so focused on success.

Brett Deledio
From: Richmond to GWS
Summary: Tied with Buckley. Plays during a horrifying era for Richmond only to leave and miss out on a dynasty. Disaster and a real shame because he truly had the opportunity to celebrate his career with a storybook ending. I hear Taronga Zoo is great though.

Ryan Griffin
From: Bulldogs to Giants
Summary: Another tie with Deledio and Buckley. Leaves the Bulldogs looking for success and misses out on a historic second premiership. Instead of being celebrated as a Bulldogs legend, he is awkwardly forgotten as 'that guy who quit on us', loyalty still counts.

5. Adam Treloar
From: GWS to Collingwood
Summary: Treloar wanted to play in a premiership. No one could begrudge him picking Collingwood over Richmond even if feathers were ruffled. Collingwood was far more successful and had a better track record by 2015. Although Richmond at that time made finals three consecutive years, Treloar went with Collingwood.

He got close in 2018 but the real story is happening now. Collingwood back ended his deal - his loyalty admirable. Playing for a fraction of his large contract now expecting to receive the big pay day later, well later is now and Collingwood are treated him worse than a Donkey gets treated off the hills of Santorini. Treloar could have been a triple premiership player right now, instead, according to Matt Randall, could be playing in the 2s for the entire 2021 season - ouch.
Click to expand...

This OP is like the first Jack Reacher movie. Murder a number of randoms to hide the true target.

We get it, Treloar said Collingwood's list was better, your team has won 3 flags since, be happy instead of a whinger.
 
Dr Awkward said:
The difference in basketball is there are only 5 players on the court and in crunch time the star players are responsible for taking over. So if you don't win a championship you can be held a lot more accountable.

I don't think anyone actually thinks lesser of players like Robert Harvey or Nathan Buckley for not winning a flag.
Click to expand...

Spot on

There's 18 players on the field in footy. We fans tend to like our narratives and our stars, so we overrate the extent to which
individuals cause team success in footy.

Consider
- The best forward of the last 20 years

- The best midfielder ever (arguably)

- The best defender of the past 10 years

- Buddy, Ablett Jr, Rance

All three of their clubs kept winning flags without them. Which suggests their clubs could've won flags without them in the first place.
 
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