We now know plenty about free agency. Brendon Goddard remains the biggest name. St Kilda, Essendon, Fremantle, Essendon and Carlton are reportedly cashed up and ready for the wheeling and dealing.
What we still don't know is how it will all go down on the very first day. In the NFL and the NBA, the first day of the free agency signing period is one of the most frenzied of the year.
Click here for AFL.com.au's Dummies' Guide to Free Agency
In those leagues, teams can only talk directly to a player from another club and then tender an offer once the free agency period has commenced. Of course, none of this prevents player agents from talking to clubs in the lead-up, so by the time the formal free agency period commences, the players have a fair understanding of their worth in the market and the clubs most likely to seek their signature.
In creating its new free agency system, the AFL has studied the US sports scene closely and borrowed plenty. But one difference is the timing. The NFL free agency period starts about a month after the Super Bowl, while the NBA signing period starts within a couple of weeks after the NBA finals.
The AFL has chosen to move with greater haste. The goalposts will barely have been extracted from the MCG before the free agency period commences, and it is for this reason that we shouldn't expect a major flurry of activity on the opening day.
Player agents canvassed by AFL.com.au are expecting an underwhelming start to free agency on Monday. Four of the 18 clubs will be either a couple of days or just a week removed from their last game of the year.
"They won't be ready for it," said one agent who asked not to be named. "They haven't had a chance to properly evaluate their list or think clearly enough about which players are out there and who might help their needs."
Because this is the first free agency period, we can't take history as a guide with respects to any early movement. Trade week would suggest that most deals get done later rather than sooner and you have to go back to Brock McLean's departure from Melbourne to Carlton at the end of 2009 to find a deal that was done so soon at the start of the trade period.
"Clubs like to hold out just that bit longer," said another agent. "That's just the way they do business. So they'll have their eyes on a player, but they might just wait that bit longer to see whether the landscape has changed before tendering that final offer."
The Travis Cloke factor still looms large even though he has now re-signed with Collingwood. Clubs are now recasting their wish lists and the number crunchers are updating their salary cap spreadsheets now that Cloke and his exorbitant financial demands are no longer a factor.
Carlton, which was leading the running to pry him away from the Westpac Centre, is now looking elsewhere. Quinten Lynch has confirmed he wants away from the Eagles. He might now swap royal blue and gold for navy blue and white and won't cost the Blues anywhere near as much. That's the type of thinking on the run that free agency might require.
To a lesser degree, Goddard's impending decision, we are led to believe, will help finalise the market for midfielders.
What we do know about the free agency period is that things will tick along once a player makes up his mind. In the case of a restricted free agent, once an offer has formally been tabled, his existing club has just 72 hours to decide whether to match the terms.
"My advice to the players is pretty clear," said another player manager. "If you've made up your mind to accept an offer, then there is no reason to wait any longer."
"They should sign the agreement as soon as they can, wait out the 72 hours and then get on with the next chapter in their life."
It is not by default that this is the language of the corporate world. Free agency is seen by many as bringing football out of the cold and creating a mechanism for players to change clubs that is more in keeping with the business world.
You can follow AFL Media senior writer Ashley Browne on Twitter @afl_hashbrowne.
