In the final hour of the trade circus, as Essendon and Collingwood strove to complete the deals that would deliver them Dylan Shiel and Dayne Beams from northern clubs, the AFL's digital audience – viewers, listeners and clickers – reached unprecedented peaks.

If you compare the trade period denouement to television drama, the final half-hour is like one of those cliffhanger dramas wherein a kid is rescued from the house or car just before it explodes in flames.

The difference, perhaps, is that many fans of other clubs (ie, not Essendon or Collingwood) were barracking for Shiel and Beams to be stranded at their original clubs, the fate that befell Tim Kelly at Geelong. The game's tribalism creates a market for an unhappy ending, too.

Jesse Hogan, Dylan Shiel and Dayne Beams all found new homes in the trade window. Credit:Fairfax Media

"Some sections of the footy media get more excited about trading than the games themselves," said Leigh Matthews on 3AW this week. While Matthews (who thought the trades were overblown) is correct, the major reason the media follows trades with such psychopathic intensity is that there's such a vast audience for it – even for second-tier recruits. On Friday morning, I overheard two middle-aged men in Brunswick analysing in detail the worth of Taylor Duryea to the Bulldogs.