Josh Dunkley remains a Bulldog after last-minute talks between Essendon and the Dogs fell through.
Western Bulldogs list manager Sam Power said the club was always going to keep Dunkley unless Essendon met their demands.
“We rate him so highly, he’s a fantastic player, a future captain of the club really with his leadership qualities,” he told AFL Trade Radio.
“Our preference was to keep him, but once he did indicate his preference, we were open to something and discussing it with Essendon.
“In the end we had some good conversations, but it was unable to happen and we were rapt to keep Josh.
“We had a really clear asking price that we didn’t deviate from otherwise we were very consistently saying we were going to keep him.
“He knows how highly we rate him and we’re confident we can get the best out of the Bulldogs and we’re confident he can be a long-term player for us.”
It has been reported that the Dogs wanted two of Essendon’s first round draft picks for Dunkley, but Power opted not to comment on what the Bombers’ final offer was.
Mitch Cleary has reported that Essendon’s final offer to the Dogs was Pick 7 and a future second rounder.