IT WAS the 'dead of night' meeting that turned Brian Lake into a triple-premiership Hawk.
Already a two-time All-Australian and a best and fairest winner at the Western Bulldogs, Lake's career was at a crossroads at the end of the 2012 season. Set to turn 31 in a couple of months and with the Dogs hoping to undergo a list rebuild, the question was posed as to what would come next in his career.
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Retelling his favourite trade story on AFL.com.au's new trade and draft podcast Gettable this week, Lake's manager Marty Pask explained why he felt the defender's subsequent switch to Hawthorn was the first step towards the more active and mature player movement space we have now.
"That was probably one of the significant moments I felt where (list management) started to change," Pask said.
"I remember having a chat with (then-Western Bulldogs list manager) Jason McCartney, the coach was Brendan McCartney at the time, and they wanted to go down the youth aspect.
"If Brian was just going to be the old guy that sits in the forward line because you want to develop a backman, and he's going to sit there and basically limp to 200 games and then retirement, why don't we have a mature conversation where you could get something and I could find something? Jason, to his credit, said he saw it that way.
"He said, 'Let's keep it between us but let's have a chat about it'. We had that chat. He wanted me to do the right thing – he didn't want it in the papers – and he wanted to see what I could find."
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So Pask began working the phones. Hawthorn, which just days earlier had lost the 2012 Grand Final to Sydney, was in need of a key defender and Lake fitted the bill. A call was made to the Hawks' list manager at the time, Graham Wright, about the prospect of a deal.
A midnight meeting at the club's Waverley headquarters followed and the rest is history. Lake won premierships with Hawthorn in 2013, 2014 and 2015, famously taking home the Norm Smith Medal as the Grand Final's best player in his first season at the club.
"Graham Wright was my first call," Pask said.
"I told 'Wrighty' how I saw it and how I thought he could help and asked what he thought. He could see this happening. We ended up meeting Alastair Clarkson and Graham Wright in the dead of night at Waverley, and it really was the dead of night.
"We had a really good, honest conversation about where Brian needed to get to. He was 31, he needed to lose a bit, slim down, play differently. Brian accepted it all, then I put Jason and Graham together.
"We all kept it quiet. Hawthorn played a Grand Final that year, so if anything got out then we were out. No one could talk about it, no one could say anything. I think the Trade Period started the week after the Grand Final and it literally just dropped. Brian was now at Hawthorn and everyone was like, 'Where did that come from?'"
Gettable is the new trade, draft and free agency podcast on AFL.com.au, the AFL Live Official App, or wherever you get your podcasts. The latest episode is live now.
