While players and coaches are gearing up for another campaign after a long pre-season, list managers have also been pulling strings before a ball has bounced almost a year out from the 2025 trade period.
While not a common occurrence, pre-season trade news has been a feature this year as star players Luke Davies-Uniacke, Matt Rowell, Oscar Allen and Tom De Koning have calls to make.
Reports have gone as far as to suggest Allen and Rowell have spoken to other clubs over the off-season, with club list managers getting their interest in early.
With this year's crop of off-contract names still home to a plethora of quality players, we've looked at who could be up for grabs and which clubs are positioned as potential landing spots.
With this list, we name the one player your club should be keeping a close eye on in 2025.
5. Essendon
Shannon Neale
There's no shock that Essendon need a young, emerging key forward to join forces with Nate Caddy and Isaac Kako.
The Bombers were clear with their intention that they want to invest in youth and someone like Geelong's Shannon Neale shouldn't be ignored.
Aside from Peter Wright, who hasn't reached the 2022 Crichton Medal heights in recent years, Brad Scott doesn't have a genuine key forward to work with.
Scott's may attempt to put Sam Draper in front of the ball to add a unique option inside 50 while Kyle Langford, Harrison Jones and Caddy all pose as second and third-tall options.
Hence the watch should be on Neale.
The tall Cat emerged as a handy key forward in 2024, playing 15 games and proving his worth in the finals.
Neale kicked goals in 14 of the 15 outings whilst also chopping out in the ruck.
If Draper, or Nick Bryan, explored their futures, the 22-year-old should be a player of interest.
