Crows recruits Kyle Cheney and Luke Lowden were sitting in their hotel in Los Angeles feverishly refreshing their Twitter feeds on the final morning of the recent trade period.
Adelaide had committed to Hawthorn pair but as the deadline loomed and no deal had been done, the defender and ruckman became increasingly anxious.
Cheney met with Coach Phil Walsh and toured the Club’s facilities before jetting to the United States with Lowden and other Hawks teammates in the second week of the trade period. But the deal was held up when Adelaide also expressed an interest in Lowden late in the piece.
“I thought the trade was going through, so I’d already told the guys we were in LA with that I was potentially going to Adelaide. They’d come to grips with that, but then nothing happened,” Cheney said.
“We were following Trade Radio on Twitter and the time was ticking by. We were trying to work out how long was left before the deadline with the time difference over there.”
Finally, with less than a minute left on the clock, the paperwork to turn the Hawks into Crows was lodged with the AFL.
Lowden said it had been a tense 24 hours after receiving contact from Adelaide.
“It was a bit nerve-wracking. Being out of the country, we felt a bit helpless in a way but it was very exciting when we heard the trade had gone through with only a minute or two to go,” he said.
“The Hawks boys were really excited for Kyle and me, and obviously we were rapt to be onboard.”
When Cheney and Lowden left Melbourne for LA, they didn’t know they’d be starting the next chapter of their football journeys together at Adelaide. But Cheney said it had panned out perfectly.
“It was good having someone to share the emotion with. It’s hard to be so excited when some of your closest mates are there a little bit upset that you’re leaving,” Cheney said.
“It was good to be over there with all the Hawthorn boys to say goodbye and to share the moment with Luke was probably perfect in the end.”
Cheney and Lowden will arrive in Adelaide later this week after a stopover at Cheney’s family home in Warracknabeal, which is halfway between Melbourne and Adelaide.
“Kyle and I are really good mates, so to be traded together is pretty special,” Lowden said.
“We shared the moment on the night in LA, we holidayed together … and we’re coming across to Adelaide together on Friday, so I haven’t really let go of him yet!”
Cheney and his partner Suibhan have already found a place to live, while Lowden will move in with Sam Kerridge and his girlfriend Alice until he finds his own house in the New Year.
It will be Lowden’s first visit to Adelaide. Although, he’s no stranger to moving having lived in Sydney, country Victoria and then Melbourne.
“I’ve actually never been to Adelaide before. I’ll be coming over for the first time on Friday, so that will be interesting,” he said.
“I’m moving in with Sam Kerridge, who I spoke to on the phone for the first time on Monday night. He’s rolling out the red carpet for me.”
