I'm as big a freo fan as the next bloke but i have to agree with anyone that says we made a blunder when it came to the 2001 draft. If you look at it as it is today from the trade we have mcpharlin (considered one of my favourite players and a champion) and ryley dunn (played a handful of games and is on the rookie list).

On the other hand Hawthorn are with two of the premier midfielders in the comp in hodge and mitchell (also there capatin and vice captain) and are actually getting some good service out of Croad (once he went back he was an all australian). We could have been made to look even more foolish had Hawthorn actually taken a decent player with pick number 20 which we also gave them.

I hate what i read the majority of the time when it comes to west australian journalism but you cant argue with the fact that this was not the worst trade ever (and thats not even taking into consideration the other brownlow medallists we could have picked up instead of hodge or mitchell in that draft)