While days at the beach, ice creams and AFLW football are currently ruling the roost, the 2022 AFL season is fast approaching.
And with the first set of pre-season practice matches set to take place in a month's time, the sole goal of the many names currently sweating it out at clubland has just entered their horizon.
Although only eight teams will eventually play finals before a single side claims the cup in September, there are a plethora of headlines that are set to be raised across the course of the marathon campaign.
As the recommencement of the season's roller coaster is yet to begin after coming to halt in Perth last year, it may seem both presumptuous and foolhardy to try and write our leads so far in advance.
However, it hasn't stopped us from giving it our best shot.
So, before the Sherrin hits the middle of the Melbourne Cricket Ground to set the latest AFL schedule in motion, we gazed into our crystal ball to provide you with the 10 headlines you are sure to read before the season's final siren.
4. Cats, Eagles set sights on the futureย
While the ageing Cats and seasoned Eagles will be eyeing off another cup for their cabinets this year, irrespective of how their seasons pan out, both should be focusing on the future at its cessation.
And given that almost 40 per cent of Geelong's list that will return from last season are set to finish the year aged 30 or above, this is hardly a surprise.
Geelong's modus operandi has been to find and lure players who can pitch in during the here and now. And although this approach has seen the Hoops play finals football every year, bar one, since 2006, it also means that they've been on the clock for some time.
Those without silver tounges have recently begun referring to Kardinia Park as a retirement home, and while there remains a modicum of truth to this barb, 44 per cent of the Cats the have stayed on in the Pivot City are aged either 24 or below.
Still, it is these members of their clowder - along with their recent draftees - that should be granted greater opportunities for growth at senior level.
SEE ALSO: Every AFL club's best 22 for '22: Geelong Cats
Out West, similar quandaries are afoot.
From their squad for the 2021 season, 22 of the names listed were beyond this 25-year-old barrier. Add in the fact that veterans Josh Kennedy, Shannon Hurn, Luke Shuey and Nic Naitanui are off-contract at season's end and there are decisions about the hereafter that must be made in the present.
As the only ruckman on their roster with any real senior experience, Naitanui's contact will be a highly publicised talking point throughout the upcoming season. While Bailey Williams and Callum Jamieson are also stoppage options for Adam Simpson, their combined experience of nine AFL games leaves plenty to be desired.
So, unless West Coast are planning a power-move to find Naitanui's replacement during the next off-season, they too will need to turn an Eagle eye to the future.
