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.
7. Geelong
James Worpel
A Geelong local could be the missing piece in Geelong's midfield puzzle.
The gun Hawthorn midfielder currently holds a spot inside the Hawks' midfield, and is reportedly happy there, but has previously had inconsistent form patches leaving him out of the side.
Rivals targeted Worpel in 2023 but the 26-year-old turned down any interest by signing a two-year extension.
Still out of contract at the end of this year though, Worpel, who has childhood ties to Geelong after co-captaining the Falcons, could be the ball magnet the Cats are after to bolster their midfield.
A hard-nosed, contested-winning machine, Worpel's prototype is exactly what Geelong are after, confirmed even more so with their interest in Matt Rowell.
A lucrative contract or pull from his home town could be what pries the Hawk out of Sam Mitchell's grasp.
