A pair of superstar ruckmen, plus a duo of emerging key forwards and three of top four from the 2016 draft, headline the 2024 AFL free agency crop.
The current list of players who are set to become free agents after next season – having served eight years or more at one club, or having previously been delisted – was revealed by the Herald Sun over the weekend.
The two hottest properties are two of the tallest, with the Western Bulldogs’ Tim English and Fremantle’s Sean Darcy standing out as major trade targets if they aren’t re-signed over the next 11 months.
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The Bulldogs will be desperate to lock up English, after committing a massive long-term deal to fellow Western Australian Aaron Naughton in recent weeks, but West Coast has been linked to the 26-year-old for many years.
Meanwhile Darcy could head the other way across the Nullarbor with consistent links between the Geelong Falcons product and the Cats.
While a rumoured five-year, $5 million offer was refuted and some reports in the west have suggested Darcy has already committed to the Dockers, with nothing official, Geelong will be growing in confidence it can lure the 25-year-old home as the months tick by.
Essendon’s Andrew McGrath and Brisbane’s Hugh McCluggage, the No.1 and No.3 picks in the 2016 draft class where most newly-minted free agents will emerge from, are also on the target board as it stands.
In particular McCluggage, a Victorian, will be closely watched by rival clubs though it’s believed Brisbane are pushing hard to re-sign him in the coming months and avoid speculation.
The No.4 pick in that draft, Gold Coast’s Ben Ainsworth, is also a looming free agent.
After a market lacking in key forward options clubs will be hopeful both North Melbourne’s Cam Zurhaar and Port Adelaide’s Todd Marshall remain unsigned and gettable next October.
Essendon held interest in Zurhaar in 2022 before he signed a two-year deal to take him through to free agency, while West Australian clubs will be hoping to lure him home.
Marshall, 25, won’t resume training until next season after a difficult 2023 campaign which saw him limited by a hip injury. He kicked 36 goals this past year following a remarkably accurate 45.15 in the 2022 season, and is from Deniliquin in country New South Wales.
The out-of-contract Ben King and Jamarra Ugle-Hagan will be the top key forward targets on the market though neither is a free agent.
Whether Richmond is competitive in 2024 is likely to determine the status of veteran superstars Dustin Martin and Dion Prestia, and whether they seek moves north.
Martin will see out his lucrative contract at Punt Road and should become a member of the 300-game club at mid-season, but has long been linked to a move away from the Victorian footy bubble and either to Sydney (where he spends much of his time) or Gold Coast (where former coach Damien Hardwick is now employed).
There were reports earlier this year Prestia was considering a move back to Queensland to finish his career, after it began at the Suns.
Geelong has a whopping 14 free agents, many of them veterans coming to the ends of their career and operating on short-term deals, though not all of them.