Four-time Hawthorn champion Luke Hodge has revealed that Mark Ricciuto approached the former Hawks captain in an attempt to lure him to Adelaide in 2017.
Hodge had called time on his 305-game career before coming out of retirement to join Brisbane, with it now revealed that the Crows had also planned to gain Hodge's services.
Ricciuto, a board member at Adelaide, met Hodge at a function and opened up discussions surrounding a potential move to West Lakes.
โIt was a low-key chat,โ Hodge told SENโs Whateley.
โIt was 2017 after we played over there and Iโd announced my retirement and I was actually doing a function at one of his (Ricciutoโs) pubs.
โHe grabbed me a beer and said, โDid you want to come over here and play a year?โ They were obviously up the top of the ladder and going pretty well.
โHe said they needed to help a few of the younger guys not playing every week โฆ just teaching them a thing here or there.
โMy mindset was I had a really good year with Hawthorn in a development role with all the young guys coming through, so that was about as far as it went.
โBut then obviously Brisbane came along. It was just a better fit.โ
Ricciuto chased up Hodge again in 2019, hoping for another chance of luring the Hawks great.
โI spoke to 'Roo' last year and he said, โWhatโs the family position?โ, because he knows that weโve got family over in Adelaide,โ the four-time premiership Hawk said.
โI said, โWeโve got a baby due in December and our kids are really enjoying it up here (Brisbane)โ.
โThat was about as far as we got. It was a couple of phone calls.โ
Hodge ended his career last year after 346 games between Hawthorn and Brisbane.
