The Western Bulldogs have welcomed one new player while strengthening their hand at the 2021 AFLW Draft, at the commencement of the trade period.

On Monday, the Bulldogs secured former netballer and GWS midfielder Elle Bennetts, in exchange for pick number 28.

Yesterday, the Club was also involved in two separate pick swaps – sending picks 11 and 57 Carlton’s way in return for picks 12 and 27, before moving that pick 12 onto St Kilda for picks 22 and 25.

The trade period leaves the Bulldogs with three early second-round selections 22, 25 and 27, and 43 (13, 15, 17 and 26 in the Victorian draft pool) in the upcoming national draft, which will be held later this year.

Bulldogs’ AFLW Head of List Management and Recruiting, Mick Sandry, said it was pleasing to come away with the deals they did.

“Going into the Sign and Trade period, we had a really clear strategy of what we wanted to achieve and we were able to do that,” Sandry said.

“Bringing in Elle, who is an elite talent, was a terrific result and key component to our strategy.

“We then worked closely with a number of clubs to turn one first-round pick into three second-round picks, dramatically improving our draft position.

“We think the upcoming draft is very even, so moving our first-round pick back slightly to secure the extra second-round picks now gives us more opportunities to bring some really talented players onto our list.”

The window for trading began last Monday, before coming to an end yesterday afternoon at 2pm.