Geelong roasted for posturing during Esava Ratugolea trade talks with Port Adelaide

After Geelong made a deal that allowed wantaway defender Esava Ratugolea to quit the Cats and join Port Adelaide, AFL fans lost it.

Ratugolea decided to move, and a year later, he was moved for choices No. 25, No. 76, and No. 94.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Ginnivan’s timeline is clarified, and the Cats stand with Ratugolea.

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Port Adelaide had originally offered pick 25 for the out-of-contract 25-year-old, but Geelong had insisted that was not enough.

Both coach Chris Scott and footy boss Andrew Mackie were on the record as saying the club had invested a lot of time in Ratugolea and he was at an age where he was set to blossom at AFL level.

But when push came to shove just hours before the trade deadline, it was revealed that the standoff was over and Geelong had accepted the additional picks of 76 and 94.

That revelation baffled fans who were quick to take aim at Mackie, believing he had done a lot of “tough” talking for “virtually nothing”.

Indeed, Geelong is likely to call a name with pick 76 at the draft, but it is certainly hard to see 94 being used.

“Holy s*** it took Mackie this long just for two picks he won’t use?” one fan blasted on social media immediately after the trade news broke.

“They spent 10 days haggling over pick 76 and 94 … lol?” another fan said.

And another: “Wow, way to go Mackie getting those 76 and 94 picks. You really showed the rest of the AFL how to play tough. Stephen Wells must be so proud of you.”

And another: “Well that was worth the hassle. Why bother waiting for that?”