While some would contend that 24 rounds of football, a month of finals and a couple of practice matches to kick things off is enough football to poke a boot at, in this era of the 18-team talkback radio pitches, it is clear that the trade period has taken on a life of its own.
Punters may screech that they hate hearing about proposed deals between March and September, but in reality, any article about a player wanting in, out or otherwise rates its socks off analytically as these same fans can't help but want to know the score.
And although footy fanatics may disagree, the analytics tell us that there is only one thing they love more than trade chat, and that's when trades are put under the microscope.
So while you lot may hate us for it, deep down we know that you love it.
From 1990 until the cessation of the 2022 season, here is the trade that every club wishes they had a mulligan for.
Fremantle (2001)
In - Trent Croad and Luke McPharlinÂ
Out - Pick 1 (Luke Hodge), pick 20 (Daniel Elstone) and pick 36 (Sam Mitchell)Â
No club can profess to owning less proficiency at the trade table than the Dockers. After all, this is the club that traded Chris Groom for Andrew McLeod and moved a mass of middling Claremont products back west for the rights to draft Scott Lucas and Matthew Lloyd. Still, after laying the foundation for Hawthorn's latest golden era in one off-season, Fremantle deserves some kind of retroactive prize.
