STEWART Crameri is officially a Western Bulldog, after Essendon finally accepted pick 26 in exchange for the forward.
Essendon originally baulked at the offer of the Bulldogs' second-round pick for their three-time leading goalkicker, but agreed to the deal on Thursday.
The Bombers risked losing Crameri for nothing, given he could almost certainly have arrived at the Bulldogs in next month's pre-season draft.
Pick 26 will be the Dons' first pick at the NAB AFL Draft after they were stripped of their first two selections as part of the penalty from the supplements scandal.
The clubs had been haggling over a deal that may have involved a swap of later picks in the draft, but settled on the straight swap.
Earlier this week Essendon traded pick 48 for Greater Western Sydney pair Shaun Edwards and Kurt Aylett.
"I'm confident pick 26 will get us a quality player," Essendon list manager Adrian 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."
AFL.com.au revealed in June that the Bulldogs were keen to lure Crameri to the club.
The Bulldogs first proposed the four-year, $1.8 million offer mid-year.
"We are delighted to secure somebody of Stewart's calibre," Bulldogs list manager Jason McCartney said.
"We identified Stewart's physical attributes and his goalkicking capabilities as important components to add to our team moving forward."
Crameri was at first keen to remain at the Bombers, but was only offered a two-year deal by the club on significantly less money.
That offer was increased to three years in September, but by then Crameri's mind was almost set that he would be accepting the Bulldogs offer.
He informed the club later in the month of his intentions to be traded, and although the Bombers tried, they could not sway him.
An important factor in the 25-year-old's decision was to reunite with Bulldogs coach Brendan McCartney, who was Essendon's forward assistant in 2011 when Crameri burst onto the scene.
Crameri has kicked 96 goals in 57 games since being elevated from the rookie list.
