Mediation saved Burgoyne deal from dying

A TWO-hour mediation brokered the complex deal that saw former Port Adelaide player Shaun Burgoyne become a Hawk, AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson has revealed.

The trade involved four clubs, three players and host of draft picks changing hands at a meeting at AFL House on Thursday evening.

The mediation was called by Burgoyne's manager Ben Williams, and saved a trade that may have otherwise fallen through after Hawthorn and Port Adelaide had failed to come to a resolution in the traditional manner.

Anderson said it was just this kind of scenario that recent changes to trade week rules were aimed at.

"Talking to the club representatives that were there immediately afterwards, they believe the mediation process was very beneficial in helping them come to a deal," he said.

"If there wasn't the ability to trade draft picks, it would have been much more difficult for this deal to have been done and a number of other deals to be done as well."

Both issues – mediation and the ability to trade draft picks alone – were targeted by the AFL when it amended the rules two years ago.

The actual terms of the deal saw Burgoyne move to his desired club of Hawthorn, Mark Williams to Essendon and Jay Nash to Port Adelaide.
 
The Power also received two first-round draft picks – No.9 and No.16 – while Geelong traded No.33 for No.40 and No.56 (from the Power), and No.42 (from the Bombers).

Essendon then received No.24 from Port and No.33 from Geelong.

The meeting was led by Tony Nolan and attended by representatives of Burgoyne, Port Adelaide, Hawthorn and Essendon.

Anderson also said it showed good faith by the clubs to actively work through the session, after it appeared the trade was destined for failure.

"To my recollection, this is the first one where we've actually ordered a mediation to take place," he said.

"We did have another mediation, but that was a voluntary one where we had some learnings that we put in place this year for the process.

"It's a real credit to the clubs involved that they were open-minded to the process of mediation, and participated in it in good faith and assisted them in coming to a solution."

Clubs that have been forced into such means need to apply to Anderson for the official sit-down, which is then presided over by a professional mediator.

"It's an option that's open to them, and the people we engage as mediators are very experienced and are very knowledgeable in terms of resolving impasses in terms of negotiation," Anderson said.

"We have seen a number of players get to move to clubs of their choice through this trade period. That's partly been the design of some of the changes that have been made to the trade system over time.

"A real advantage of using the trade system is that everybody receives something out of deals that are done, rather than losing a star player for nothing.

"That's why it's important this process is able to take place."