Key forward Stewart Crameri has finally found his way from Essendon to the Western Bulldogs on the second-last day of the AFL trade period.

The Bombers had hoped to gain more than the Bulldogs’ second-round draft selection for Crameri before finally agreeing to accept the No.26 pick for their leading goalkicker of the past three seasons.

Bulldogs list manager Jason McCartney said the inclusion of the 25-year-old Crameri was a big boost for the club.

“We are delighted to secure somebody of Stewart’s calibre,” McCartney said.

“We identified Stewart’s physical attributes and his goalkicking capabilities as important components to add to our team moving forward.”

Crameri was rapt to be linking up again with Bulldogs coach Brendan McCartney, who spent a season on Essendon’s coaching staff in 2011.

“I can’t wait to start working with Brendan, the coaching group and of course my new teammates, to reach my full potential and play my role for the red, white and blue,” said Crameri.

Essendon list manager Adrian Dodoro was disappointed with the outcome, while acknowledging the trade was the best result for the club.

“I’m confident pick 26 will get us a quality player,” Dodoro said.

“We’ve picked up guys like David Zaharakis and Jake Carlisle with second-round picks and there’s no reason why we can’t pick up a player of that calibre to join Kurt Aylett and Shaun Edwards and hopefully Paul Chapman on the list.

“We’re disappointed but realistic that that was the position we were put in, and the best possible result was to get a second-round draft pick.”