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.
Essendon
Jake Riccardiย
Much like Carlton, Essendon's list management priorities firmly remain in-house, with the likes of Darcy Parish, Peter Wright, Mason Redman, Harrison Jones and Ben Hobbs all needing new deals for 2023.
Similar to the end of last season, the Bombers will be placing some attention toward their forward pack, especially if either Wright or Jones remain unsigned deep into the off-season.
While the duo loom likely to recommit to the club, list boss Adrian Dodoro may be keen to have a player of Riccardi's ability on his radar as the season progresses.
The former Werribee forward could be the missing piece among Brad Scott's forward line, which has struggled to find a partner for Wright in attack. Ex-Demon Sam Weideman will be hoping to follow the breakout trend that saw Wright boot over 50 goals last year, while Jones will have his eyes on senior football after an injury-interrupted past two seasons.
Riccardi can add further selection competition under Scott while also being deployed to the backline if called upon.
