Trade chaos leaves future of star duo in ‘stalemate’… and hilarious decision Eagles must make

The long-term futures of Liam Baker and Tom Barrass have been thrown a curveball on Friday afternoon, with Hawthorn’s trading of a first-round pick changing the landscape of this season’s trade period.

In what was comfortably the biggest news to come out of Friday’s trade negotiations, the Hawks’ shock move to trade pick 14 for Carlton’s future (2025) first and second-round pick has left West Coast, and indirectly Richmond stunned.

Hawthorn’s pick 14 was widely accepted as a selection that would help see Eagle Barrass join the brown and gold this off-season, but instead, his deal looks almost certain to require the trading of future selections.

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That pick 14 that many thought would land in the hands of West Coast would have highly likely aided them in acquiring Baker from Punt Road; but that now also will need an alternative solution.

“I don’t know how they (West Coast) get the Liam Baker deal done,” Trading Day panellist Jon Ralph said on Friday evening.

“I like it; we’ve been chugging along … we all thought it was going to work out perfectly, Barrass, Baker, all going to fit in,” Herald Sun colleague Scott Gullan added.

“Yes, it was dragging on because clubs want to be smarty-pants, and then (Hawthorn) went: ‘Nah, this is silly – we’re going to do something different and completely throw it out.’

“It’s put it all up in the air.”

But while the trade looks to have done the likes of West Coast and Richmond a disservice, it was apart of several pick swaps that look to have blown the trade period wide open.

Alex Neal-Bullen and Jack Darling were each traded to Adelaide and North Melbourne respectively on Monday, but are incredibly the only two players to have changed clubs via trade this week.

Additionally, no trading – involving either players of picks – were made on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.

Hawthorn legend Dermott Brereton was still optimistic however that his old club could land the services of Barrass, which will now require out of the box thinking to be complete.

“It’s broken the deadlock for a start; it’s actually made movement on the landscape now,” Brereton stated.

“That (Barrass) deal is still capable of being done. It’s given Hawthorn two future firsts, two future seconds.

“You know that West Coast want to do a deal with Richmond (on Baker) the third party, so somewhere there’s going to be mash-up of those (future picks).”

On a similar wavelength to Brereton, Ralph added that while it could still get done, the crossover between Richmond, Hawthorn and West Coast is amid a gridlock.

“It still works, it just means some of those picks will get pushed back to next year – basically, we’re at a stalemate,” Ralph declared.

“I’m just not sure Hawthorn’s prepared to offer up as much as what some people have said; Hawthorn were not prepared to offer up pick 14 and a future-second rounder.

“Think what they’ll say, is: ‘We’ll offer up a future first and a future second – either Carlton’s or our own – we want a future third back. I still think it’s not as easy as people think.

“It’s still possible to get done, but I just think that West Coast will be thinking to themselves ‘we’re not getting a lot back for a premiership centre-half back who’s still got five years left.’”

Brereton finished by highlighting the fascinating – and slightly humorous – choice that West Coast now may have when dealing for Barrass.

With the Hawks holding both their own and Carlton’s future first and second-round picks in the 2025 draft, the Eagles will need to decide who’s selection they would prefer; indicative of where they think each team will finish next year.

“It’s going to be very interesting; it’ll tell you what the West Coast Eagles think about either of Hawthorn, or Carlton. ‘Who do we think’s going to think higher out of you two?’” Brereton ended by saying with a smirk.