It came down to the last couple of hours of the 10-day Telstra AFL Trade Period, but the Bulldogs secured its two main targets.
After much speculation and media commentary, and seemingly endless discussions between clubs, the will-they or won’t-they of the annual player swap slug-fest came to a dramatic end at 7.30pm on Wednesday night.
Central to the late drama was the Bulldogs, which snared Josh Bruce in a trade with St Kilda with 95 minutes left in the Trade Period, and Alex Keath from Adelaide with only 20 minutes remaining.
Dogs fans might have been on the edge of their seats, as they were two years ago when Josh Schache was traded to VU Whitten Oval with less than a minute on the clock.
“We were definitely very confident. But obviously there were some nerves through the last few days,” said Bulldogs General Manager of List and Recruiting, Sam Power.
“We always thought we put really fair offers in front of both St Kilda and Adelaide, that would get the deals done.
“Ideally you’d love to have things wrapped up straight away, but the way the period of works, you’re waiting for something else to fall a little bit, so it does take a little bit longer to get deals done.”
Critically, when the dust settled the Dogs were able to hold onto each of their first round selections in the next two NAB AFL Drafts.
“Pick 13 was a priority to keep, as well as bringing in the two players,” Power said.
“We’ll have some points considerations next year, and holding onto that future first was really important for that as well.”
The Bulldogs will head into the 2019 NAB AFL Draft with selections 13, 53 and 89.
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