The Western Bulldogs have landed long-time target Rory Lobb and traded out premiership midfielders Josh Dunkley and Lachie Hunter in a frantic final hour of the AFL trade period.
The Dogs prised contracted ruck-forward Lobb out of Fremantle, who acquired Jaeger O'Meara from Hawthorn, as premiers Geelong snared Ollie Henry from Collingwood to complete their impressive trade haul.
The Cats' Cooper Stephens went to the Hawks as part of a very late three-way deal, struck minutes before Wednesday night's deadline, with 2018 Brownlow medallist Tom Mitchell moving to the Magpies.
Contracted players Esava Ratugolea (Geelong), Hunter Clark (St Kilda) and Jeremy Sharp (Gold Coast) will stay put after failing in bids to get to Port Adelaide, North Melbourne and Fremantle respectively.
Brisbane-bound Dunkley and former teammate Hunter, who is off to Melbourne, will leave holes in the Bulldogs' engine room as Lobb adds versatility and experience to their key position stocks.
The Lions traded pick 21 plus future first and second-round picks as part the deal to land out-of-contract ball magnet Dunkley, which included later pick swaps.
The 25-year-old had made it clear last month he wanted to move to Queensland for lifestyle reasons, igniting what became a drawn-out negotiation process.
"(It was) more than we initially wanted to (give up), yeah, but the most important thing for us was to land Josh," Brisbane list manager Dom Ambrogio said.
Bulldogs counterpart Sam Power said it was a "fair bargain" for a player who won the club's best-and-fairest award this year.
"Josh is a very good player and that (price) is what happens with very good players," Power said.
Hunter, who played 173 games for the Bulldogs and starred in their 2016 flag, has had a chequered history off the field and took a leave of absence this year to deal with personal issues.
The 27-year-old will get a fresh start at Melbourne after they did their due diligence on him and gave up a future third-round draft pick in the deal.
"We have a great leadership group ... the culture of our footy club is paramount," Demons list manager Tim Lamb said.
"We canvassed them on certain matters, for sure."
Hunter will be joined at Melbourne by former Dogs teammate Josh Schache, who was traded for a future fourth-round pick.
Schache, the 2015 No.2 draft pick, had arrived at Whitten Oval via a trade from Brisbane five years ago and played 45 senior games for the Dogs, including just 18 over the last three seasons.
Essendon landed fringe Melbourne forward Sam Weideman and let former No.6 draft pick Aaron Francis go to Sydney.
The Swans are hopeful Francis can repeat the success of fellow ex-Bombers defender Ted Richards, who moved north and won a premiership during his decorated stint in red-and-white.
"Teddy was a similar background and had a great career - an All-Australian - so if it panned out like that, we'd be delighted," Sydney list boss Kinnear Beatson said.
Ruckman Lloyd Meek moved in the opposite direction to O'Meara, finding his way to Hawthorn from Fremantle in search of more opportunity.
