While a portion of trade and free agency deals are often finalised in the dying seconds of the exchange window's deadline day, the wheels can often be in motion before the AFL home and away season is even underway.
Last year's trade window saw 36 players find a new club ahead of the 2023 season, some deals being brokered within hours and others landing after months in the making.
Between contracted players and free agents, AFL clubs and their list managers will often be putting the wheels in motion to scout targets right from their first appearance of the season, or could very well enter the new year with priority signings in mind.
Lion-turned-Magpie Daniel McStay was among the movers at the end of last season, with his switch to Collingwood coming months after his mind was already made up.
"Daniel McStayย was a free agent of mine who I got across toย Collingwood. But that was all done in July," CSM agent Nick Gieschen revealed toย Zero Hangerย in the off-season.
"It was still six months in the making, though. There was Brisbane's offer. Then cameย Collingwood's meeting. It then went back toย Brisbane to think about whether to keep him. It eventually got to a stage where Daniel decided, โnup, I want to come home'."
With the new season just over a month away, each club is sure to have their list of targets slowly coming together as they plan to scout out-of-contract names across the course of the year.
With this list, we name the one off-contract player your club should be keeping a close eye on in 2023.
Collingwood
Brandon Zerk-Thatcher
The Magpies were able to add depth to their key-defensive stocks through the off-season with the addition of Billy Frampton from Adelaide, with the tall utility heading to Olympic Park to potentially replace the retired Jordan Roughead on Craig McRae's last line.
Whether Frampton is seen as a member of Collingwood's best 23 remains to be seen, with the club's top line of defenders in Darcy Moore, Brayden Maynard and Jeremy Howe already making spots hard to come by.
But with Frampton needing to fill a large void, and Howe into the twilight of his career, the Magpies may again consider their options for tall defensive options come the off-season.
Likely relying on cheaper options given their reportedly tight salary space, Bombers backman Brandon Zerk-Thatcher could be the man to add further competition for a spot in Collingwod's rearguard.
The key-position defender was among Essendon's best performers in the back half of last season and enters 2023 off-contract. Should he need to consider his options for next year, then the Magpies should be the ones to come calling.
