The premiership player will remain at the Whitten Oval after a deal to send him to the Bombers fell through on Thursday night.

It meant the Bulldogs came out of the trade period as arguably the biggest winner after securing Collingwood midfielder Adam Treloar.

He will create a blockbuster onball brigade with the likes of captain Marcus Bontempelli, Jack Macrae, Tom Liberatore, Lachie Hunter, Bailey Smith and Dunkley.

After finishing runner-up in the Bulldogs' 2019 best-and-fairest, Dunkley struggled with injuries this year and never returned to his best.

He was also played out of position as a back-up ruckman to try and support young tall Tim English.

But with the Bulldogs securing veteran Brisbane Lions ruckman Stefan Martin to support English, Dunkley is set to reap the rewards.

"Josh's main reason to us (in requesting a trade) was around the midfield opportunities," Bulldogs list manager Sam Power said.

"He wants to be an influential inside mid and we feel that's what he will be for us.

"He had a fantastic 2019 and played some really good football this year.

"He did have a significant injury this year and he came back from it relatively quickly, which is a credit to Josh's professionalism."

Power said talks with Treloar only ramped up recently due to the uncertainty around the situation at Collingwood.

"It probably hasn't been until the last week, or even less, five days really where we were lucky enough to meet Adam and do a medical," he added.

Australian Associated Press