Beaten AFL grand finalists Hawthorn have snared the big-bodied key defender they have been lacking, recruiting two-time All Australian Brian Lake in a trade with the Western Bulldogs.
The Hawks gave up draft picks No.21 and No.41 in return for Lake and pick No.27, to strengthen a defence that was dominated by opposition big forwards Collingwood’s Travis Cloke and Adelaide’s Kurt Tippett during the finals.
In other deals on the trade period’s opening day:
* Essendon’s Angus Monfries joined Port Adelaide in exchange for pick No.48.
* Gold Coast were given the right to draft highly-rated 17-year-old Western Australian Jack Martin in exchange for giving Greater Western Sydney their No.2 national draft pick, as well as a swap of lesser picks.
* St Kilda recruited 21-year-old key forward Tom Lee from WAFL club Claremont in a deal which delivered the Giants draft pick No.12, while the Saints also received picks No.24 and No.43.
But it was the move of Lake, who has played 197 games with the Dogs and was their best and fairest in 2007 and an All Australian in 2009-10, that grabbed most attention.
Given Lake will be 31 by the start of next season and will become eligible for free agency at the end of it, the rebuilding Dogs were delighted with their end of the bargain, which leaves them beautifully placed for November’s draft.
The Hawks were thrilled to gain a quality backman who is bigger than Josh Gibson and Ryan Schoenmakers.
“His experience will be highly valuable to our group of relatively young defenders and he will add greatly to our side’s depth,” Hawks football manager Mark Evans said of Lake.
Lake is happy to get the chance to finish his career with a quality side.
“We get back into the first round again with another pick and they get a player who can essentially maybe help them go that step further and win a premiership,” Dogs list manager Jason McCartney said.
Sydney began negotiating to get Adelaide star Kurt Tippett but didn’t get far, although Sydney chief executive Andrew Ireland was confident a deal would be reached.
The Giants, as they did last year, are building a huge pool of early draft picks.
They’ve already added Gold Coast’s No.2 pick to their existing No.1, as well as No.12 from the Saints.
They are also poised to also gain No.3 from Melbourne in return for the Demons gaining the right to recruit 17-year-old Jesse Hogan, with only the finer details to be finalised.
The Saints, chasing West Coast key backman Mitch Brown and Suns ruckman Tom Hickey, also hope their compensation pick for Brendon Goddard keeps them in the hunt for Suns want-away midfielder Josh Caddy.
