The new total player payment rules will also allow Brisbane to pitch for another high-priced star at the end of next year, having recruited Dayne Beams and Allen Christensen this off-season.

Under the rules set out earlier this year, clubs can spent up to 105 per cent of their salary cap in any given season, provided they have "underspent" in any of the previous two years.

Clubs that underspent by, for instance, $500,000 on total player payments and additional service agreements this year are permitted to spend up to $500,00 over the combined limits across 2016 and 2017.

The "banking" rule was backdated for two years, allowing Port Adelaide to recruit Ryder on a lucrative four-year deal given the club had underspent in 2013 due to cash flow reasons.

Port Adelaide also struggled to make minimum payments in 2012, when the club finished 14th.

Brisbane's situation is slightly different to that of the Power, given the Lions needed to pre-pay $1.4 million dollars this year to reach 95 per cent of its cap.

The retirement of Jonathan Brown gave the club extra money to spend this year, and the new rule will leave it well-positioned to go after another star or two at the end of next season.

The Lions recently requested $3 million of AFL funding to enable the club to better fund its football operations department and make player payments a priority.

Announcing the more flexible "banking" system - one of many new equalisation measures put in place - the AFL said it wanted struggling clubs to be able to attract talented players as they began to climb back up the ladder.

The league wanted clubs to move away from pre-paying players, and to be able to acquire and retain talent more easily.

After two weeks of talking, Port Adelaide extracted Ryder from Essendon using picks 17 and 37 in the final two hours of trading, with 2008 Brownlow medallist Adam Cooney proving crucial to the deal.

The clubs had spent more than 90 minutes in mediation on Wednesday before making a breakthrough on Thursday. A number of deals involving pick swaps, other clubs and players including Andrew Moore and Cam O'Shea had already been discussed and dismissed.

Greater Western Sydney expressed some late interest in Ryder but it went nowhere given the ruckman's determination to play for Port Adelaide.

The Bombers moved pick 37 to the Bulldogs for Cooney, essentially gaining him and pick 17 for Ryder, who had threatened to take the club to the AFL grievance tribunal seeking a release from his contract. Cooney settled on Essendon over North Melbourne on Thursday morning.

Essendon, which also holds pick 20 and secured GWS ruckman Jon Giles cheaply, was able to maintain a reasonably strong position in the draft while giving its players a shot at remaining competitive next year given what the group has been through in the past two seasons.

Throwing pick 37 into the Ryder deal meant the Power had to abandon its plans to recruit contracted Gold Coast ruckman Daniel Gorringe as well. He will stay with the Suns.

Essendon list manager Adrian Dodoro said the club had wanted more for Ryder, who had his best season this year, but that it had negotiated the best deal possible for him.

"It's been a long, drawn out process, obviously. Paddy made the decision a few weeks ago that he wanted to leave the club and that's been well documented," said Dodoro on AFL Trade radio.

"We took a really pragmatic approach to the whole thing. We had to make a decision based on what was best for the club and what was best for Paddy and what was best for the game.

"It's unfortunate in many regards that we didn't get a bit more value, but at the end of the day that's what was on offer, that was the best that we could get. It was made very clear to us that he wanted to go to Port Adelaide, no other club, and they put their first and second pick on the table.

"The decision was made for a number of reasons, but at the end of the day with Jonathan Giles in the door, who can come in and support Tom Bellchambers, and Adam Cooney coming into our midfield as that outside runner, sometimes you've got to let a good player go to make changes.

"It wasn't ideal for us and I think we all agree we'd prefer to have Paddy at the club, but this is the last year of our [draft] sanctions, everyone's committed and now we can move forward."

Essendon coach James Hird was pleased at the idea of adding Cooney to his midfield. "It's no secret that we needed some outside speed, a guy who delivers the ball really well," Hird said on Channel Seven.

"He's a guy who can win his own footy when he needs to, but also kick goals. I think he complements our team really well."