The third Fremantle trade would centre on Rory Lobb, a talented forward/ruck, who was leaving Greater Western Sydney as part of that club’s fire sale. Rosich told Petroro that he and his management group were uniquely placed to make these trades happen. TLA managed Hogan, Neale and Lobb. But it also handled two other players, Port Adelaide’s Chad Wingard, who was en route to Hawthorn, and Port defender Jack Hombsch – both players were subsequently sewn into the mega trade, as Port and Brisbane became creative. The Dockers had already taken a key step on the weekend when they met Hogan, having made a statement that was widely read as Fremantle withdrawing from a deal with the Demons; in reality, their interest in Hogan had not wavered and, indeed, the statement was carefully worded to reflect their position, which was that they couldn’t meet Melbourne’s price. Hogan and Petroro’s TLA colleague Matt Bain – who handles Hogan with Perth-based Jason Dover – met Rosich, new football boss Peter Bell and coach Ross Lyon. Hogan, who had been the subject of trade speculation on an annual basis, reaffirmed his wish to return to Perth and don the purple jumper. Hogan was on board, if a trade could be navigated. Fremantle landed their man signing Melbourne's full forward Jesse Hogan. Credit:AAP On Tuesday, the relevant TLA agents – Petroro, Bain and Nick Gieschen – locked themselves in a room and began the task of nutting out what formed the basis of the eight-club pile-up.

The advantage of having four key players, plus Hombsch, managed by one company was that Petroro knew the truth of where each club stood, what they wanted and – after consulting with each of them – what they would accept.

Melbourne had entered the week wanting picks five, 23 and 30 for Hogan. This demand was moderated to six and 23. Fremantle wished for pick five and another inside 20 for Neale – a wish that they virtually landed, with the twist that it was pick six and 19 that sealed the Neale deal and which, in turn, made Hogan and Steven May trades flow. Late on Tuesday, the talks reached a hurdle. The clubs – Melbourne, Brisbane, Port, Fremantle, Hawthorn, Gold Coast and GWS – had all communicated what they wanted, in terms of picks, post the player trades. The Dockers had wished to retain a pick in each round of the draft and did not have a second round.

Bain suggested that they look for clubs that were seeking draft ‘‘points’’ for academy players or father-sons, and exchange a second round for later picks. This led to North Melbourne agreeing to hand over pick 31 in exchange for three later choices. Loading Dayne Beams and Collingwood could have become part of the mass deal, until yesterday morning, when the Lions and Suns confirmed a trading of picks that would effectively lock Collingwood out of the mega deal, the Magpies having hoped that their pick 18 would be needed to facilitate the Neale deal. The Suns traded pick 19 and a future second for Brisbane’s 2019 first-rounder, with the Lions gaining a future third-round tied to Hawthorn.

The dominoes quickly fell once pick 19 had gone to the Lions. Earlier, Wingard had been swapped for Burton and picks 15 and 35. Port gained pick five – suggesting they had a particular player, South Australian or not, in mind for the national draft. Neale, perhaps the most critical component, followed next, for six and 19, with other picks flying around. Then Hogan became a Docker, with Lobb following him two minutes later. May and Kade Kolodjashnij’s passage from Gold Coast to Melbourne completed what was viewed as perhaps the biggest trade – a veritable mini-series of trades – in the history of the AFL; certainly, no one at club level can recall a larger one. Petroro had been hopeful, but not completely confident that his players – and the likes of May – would land at their destinations until the Queensland clubs made that exchange of draft picks. It was a measure of how far the Lions – who were becoming more attractive to players – were willing to go to get Neale and of their wish to keep their Beams negotiations separate from Neale and Fremantle.