GWS made him sweat but Dylan Shiel was thrilled to be an Essendon player by the time the AFL trade window slammed shut.
Shiel made his desire for a move away from the Giants known early in the piece but his switch to the Bombers only became official in the dying minutes before Wednesday’s 8.30pm trade deadline.
GWS held firm on their demand for two first-round draft picks and Essendon list manager Adrian Dodoro blinked first, giving up this year’s No.9 pick and next year’s first-round selection.
The Bombers got their man as well as the Giants’ 2019 second-round pick, successfully warding off continued interest from Carlton.
“It’s certainly an experience that I would only want to to go through once in my career,” Shiel told Channel Nine.
“It was difficult for me.
“Certainly towards the later stages of the trade period I was getting a little bit nervous but I couldn’t be happier that the deal has gone through and excited to be joining the Bombers.”
A year after trading for Devon Smith, Jake Stringer and Adam Saad, Essendon focused on one key target, who immediately makes their midfield better.
“It was a bit of a fight there this afternoon … we finally got there,” Dodoro said.
“It’s a fair deal for a very, very good player.”
Some serious AFL star power headlined a busy Wednesday at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne where clubs met to hash out last-minute deals.
Dayne Beams also got his wish to return to Collingwood, with Brisbane extracting pick No.18 and a future first-round pick from the Pies, who also got picks 41 and 44 from the Lions.
However, not everyone left happy, with West Coast failing in their bid to prise Tim Kelly out of Geelong.
Fremantle’s reigning best and fairest Lachie Neale, Melbourne key forward Jesse Hogan, GWS ruckman Rory Lobb, Western Bulldogs pair Jordan Roughead and Marcus Adams and Port Adelaide star Chad Wingard also found new AFL homes.
Fremantle traded Neale and draft pick No.30 to Brisbane in exchange for picks No.6, No.19 and No.55.
The Dockers then on-traded some of their freshly-acquired selections to recruit Hogan and Lobb, while the Demons traded pick No.6 to Gold Coast in exchange for Steven May and Kade Kolodjashnij.
“It was a tough negotiation, that’s for sure,” Fremantle football chief Peter Bell said.
“It was an incredibly complicated deal … a few things changed over the weekend, we re-engaged and the end result is the deal happened.”
Wingard’s move to Hawthorn was the first domino to fall on the final day of trade period.
The Hawks traded young defender Ryan Burton, picks No.15 and No.35 plus a future fourth-round selection to acquire Wingard and Port’s future third-round selection.
A pick deal between Queensland’s clubs, in which the Lions swapped a future first-round pick for the Suns’ future second-round and third-round selections plus pick No.19, gave Brisbane all the bargaining chips required to sign Neale.
Fremantle offloaded picks No.6 and No.23 in exchange for Hogan and pick No.65, while they parted with picks No.11 and No.19 in exchange for Lobb, picks No.14, No.43 and No.47.
Port continue to be among the most active players in trade period, having secured Brisbane utility Sam Mayes and pick No.5 in the morning before later offloading Jack Hombsch to Gold Coast.
Roughead joined Collingwood for a late pick and Adams switched to Brisbane.
