Essendon and West Coast have been named among six clubs with "cash ready to splash" in 2024, with the half-a-dozen financially strong sides potentially preparing moves for "million-dollar-plus" calibre players next year.
At the conclusion of this year's player movement period attention has quickly turned to the big name free agents and off-contract players who are yet to confirm their futures beyond 2024, with some of the competition's stars currently set to enter the new year unsigned.
Ruck pair Tim English and Sean Darcy are both eligible for free agency in 2024, as are Hugh McCluggage, Todd Marshall, Tyson Stengle, Cameron Zurhaar, Andrew McGrath and Jack Henry.
Other players off-contract in 2024 include young stars Jamarra Ugle-Hagan, Ben King, Logan McDonald and Max Holmes.
Six clubs are viewed to be ahead of the competition as far as available cap space for 2024, with Essendon, Hawthorn, Fremantle, North Melbourne, West Coast and Adelaide all said to be in a strong financial position to have a big impact in the off-season of 2024.
Speaking on Gettable, AFL.com.au's Cal Twomey said the six clubs could "go really hard and target" some of the game's biggest names.
"I feel like there's about six clubs with cash ready to splash and go really strong," Twomey said.
"Essendon, Hawthorn, North Melbourne, Fremantle, West Coast, Adelaide. These clubs are in massive financial spots for big plays and they've got that cash already. I think they're willing now to use it.
"So they're the (ones to) watch that I've got for clubs to go really hard and target some players with some million-dollar-plus deals to try and drag them out of their clubs.
"Salary cap money to splash is significant for next year."
The Dockers are well-equipped to make a splash next year given their strong salary cap position and trio of 2024 first-round picks, having acquired Collingwood and Port Adelaide's opening picks through this year's trade window.
Fremantle will move to re-sign star ruckman Sean Darcy as early as this year and will be keeping an eye on the aforementioned Tim English given his ties to WA and Darcy's uncertain future, while Logan McDonald is a name firmly in their sights as well.
West Coast are also expected to make a play for English, who is joined by Ugle-Hagan and Bailey Smith in being off-contract next year at the Kennel.
Richmond star Liam Baker is another name off-contract that could be in the sights of West Coast, who were interested in the premiership Tiger last year before he recommitted at Punt Road.
Twomey believes both English and Baker will be on West Coast's radar as they look to add to their young list.
"English will be a big target for them given his free agency status, it helps them protect their draft hand and they could probably do with another ruck," Twomey said. "And I'm interested to see what they do around their trade targets.
"Liam Baker was a huge one for them last year, ended up staying back came pretty close to leaving. In the end they came really, really strongly for him.
"I think he'll be targeted again by the Eagles and probably Fremantle too. He's pretty settled in Victoria and could well be their next skipper as well, but I think he's one the Eagles will go pretty strongly at again next year."
Gold Coast's Ben King will be highly sought after by Victorian clubs over the next 12 months, while Smith's future is clouded after a year where his name was tied to multiple rivals.
Essendon have previously been linked to King and could look to continue a busy run of trade and free agency periods, having picked up four players through this month's recent exchange window.
