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.
Gold Coast
Harry Himmelbergย
It's hard to see Gold Coast as a destination club for many players, but should Stuart Dew's side show further signs of the positive direction they're heading, and potentially land a finals berth, players may begin weighing up moves to Carrara in the coming years.
An obvious area for attention on the Suns' list is their key defender depth chart, with Sam Collins and Charlie Ballard pulling the weight with a handful of role players lining up as reinforcements.
Needing another tall option on defence, Himmelberg could ponder a move north as his Giants work themselves through a rebuild.
The versatile tall was a standout for GWS last year after switching to the backline, and could adopt a similar role with the Suns should look to depart Western Sydney this season as a free agent.
