SO THAT'S Trade Week over and dusted for another year and if the reports are true, we shall never experience anything like it again.

The impending introduction in 2012 of free agency to the AFL means that the business of changing clubs will no longer be done in a week.

News reports over the weekend suggested clubs will have a week to make offers to those coming out of contract and eligible for free agency, with those deals and any other player trading to be conducted for nearly three weeks after that.

There will still be a frenzy of activity, but perhaps more like European soccer, where there are two month-long transfer windows each year and the last 24 hours of each is where most of the business gets done and the media coverage is just insane.

Or it could be like in the United States, where the first 24 hours of the NFL and NBA trading periods is where the teams with dreams in their eyes and money to spend go about their business.

There are enough checks and balances in place with the proposed AFL free agency system where the big names basically stay put. Take Mitch Clark out of the equation, and a lot of radio time and newspaper space was taken up with players whose merchandise won't exactly be marching out the door in record numbers next year.

This year's trade period was about Greater Western Sydney establishing the framework for its playing list and Gold Coast taking further strides about bolstering its list. Several other clubs addressed needs of various descriptions, but we're not sure any new premiership contenders for 2012 came into the mix on the basis of what transpired over the last eight days.

Still, 18 players who were on senior lists in 2011, plus two others who were on lists a few years back changed clubs, which is more than for a few years. The system works, to some degree.

And what we get now is the de-listings - those whose names were put forward but attracted scant interest and who will now be told their services are no longer required. North Melbourne didn't muck around - dropping six players including Daniel Pratt - just three hours after the trade window closed.

Tough times for those players and not a particular pleasant task for those charged with delivering the message.

CLUB BY CLUB

ADELAIDE: The Neil Craig-era Crows were almost disdainful of trade week. The footy staff might as well have been on holiday. But Craig's departure as coach has sparked a change of thinking and the Crows were proactive in bringing in Lewis Johnson, Brad Crouch, Luke Brown, Tom Lynch and Josh Jenkins to the club once it determined that Ivan Maric was surplus to requirements and Jack Gunston declared he was returning to Victoria. The Crows would appear to be invigorated. Not premiership material all of a sudden, but certainly with a different look.

BRISBANE LIONS: Securing two picks inside the top 12 in a compromised draft represents a good week's work for the Lions. Mitch Clark goes out, but Jordan Lisle comes in from the Hawks with three years of development in a good program. He should command a regular senior berth from round one next year. Slowly but surely, the Lions would appear to be lifting themselves out of the mire.

CARLTON: Setanta O'hAilpin and Paul Bower attracted minimal interest, so the Blues will add a few draft picks and back the existing playing group to take the next step from fifth to at least a preliminary final. But the sad news for the aforementioned pair is that according to the coach, one of them will likely be cut before the end of the month.  

COLLINGWOOD: The Pies had the draftniks googling for much of the late morning to answer question of the day - who is Peter Yagmoor? Otherwise the Magpies kept Alan Toovey, Brent Macaffer and John McCarthy. Good thing for Nathan Buckley that his playing list will be familiar next year because with Mark Neeld and Scott Watters off to senior positions elsewhere, the coaching staff will have been drastically overhauled.

ESSENDON: The Bombers were kidding themselves if they thought pick 19 and a player was going to get it done for Gold Coast's Josh Caddy - compassionate grounds or not. The Bombers worked hard and to the death at the end of Trade Week but not for the first time, came up short. But do they put the hard yards in at the start of the week?  Getting pick 31 for ruckman Josh Jenkins was a better outcome at the end, but they didn't land the midfielder they desperately crave.

FREMANTLE: The spin out of Freo is that with three picks in the first 30, it will continue building through the draft. But the club put much time and effort into luring Mitch Clark back from Brisbane in the genuine belief that he was yearning to a return to Western Australia. What Freo now has in an ageing forward line, a deficiency Clark would have addressed.

GOLD COAST: Really, the Suns' work was done when they maneuvered their way into getting Western Australian gun 17-year-old Jaeger O'Meara to the club. He won't play next year, but it doesn't really matter. The build continues at pace. Matthew Warnock is a nice addition to the backline and should play from round one.

GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY: The first year of the Giants will be a fascinating exercise in team building and establishing chemistry. Lots of really talented kids from the PS3 generation, a few more established players in their early 20s (Tom Scully, Callan Ward, Rhys Palmer, Sam Reid and Phil Davis) and the four old-timers (Chad Cornes, Dean Brogan, Luke Power and James McDonald). Overseeing it will be Kevin Sheedy and Mark Williams - both brilliant but mad as cut snakes. There is a book in there somewhere.

GEELONG: It took footy manager Neil Balme and recruiting manager Stephen Wells to arrive in person at Etihad Stadium to tell stare down Hawthorn once and for all and to say that Tom Gillies was not on the trading table. Not sure why else the Cats were there. They do their best work on draft day.

HAWTHORN: Lost some depth by trading out Brent Renouf, Jordan Lisle and Will Sierakowski, with Rick Ladson also a chance to be released to allow his passage to GWS through the draft. But the Gunston acquisition has the Hawks really excited. What the club has yet to do is really explain the exchange of draft picks with Fremantle that included handing over pick no.29 without a tangible return.

MELBOURNE: One Twitter correspondent threw up the name of Jamie Shanahan in 1998 and there was of course Jeff White in 1997 but we maintain our conviction that not since 1984 when Peter Moore and Kelvin Templeton arrived, have Melbourne made as big a splash in the trade market as they did in landing Mitch Clark. Not to compare Clark to that pair of Brownlow winners, but he was the biggest name up for grabs and the Demons got him.

NORTH MELBOURNE: Sierakowski crosses from the Hawks and will press for selection, but is hardly a game changer. North will back in the coach, his systems and some emerging talent to get back into the finals after a four-year absence. Next year is the year.

PORT ADELAIDE: Full of self-congratulation at snaring Brad Ebert from the Eagles. But you have to remember that a) he wasn't in West Coast's best 22 by the end of the season and b) with a surname like that he was hardly going to play anywhere else. Hawthorn premiership ruckman Brent Renouf is a handy acquisition - ostensibly to back-up Matthew Lobbe, but for now we have him the best 22 for the Power come the first round next year.

RICHMOND: In Ivan Maric, the Tigers finally hope to have landed a genuinely competitive no.1 ruckman, and he would certainly appear an upgrade on Andrew Browne and Angus Graham. But Steven Morris - son of Kevin - has generated genuine excitement among Tiger fans and the hope is he will be a walk up start next season, much like other mature-aged players out of South Australia such as Nick Duigan and Paul Puopolo were in 2011. It is fair to say that the Mitch Morton era at Punt Road didn't cover itself with distinction.

ST KILDA: All the close of trading at 2pm on Monday signified to the Saints is that the time has come to roll up the sleeves and get to work. They need to address their bulging salary cap and they still have have a bunch of senior players - Farren Ray, Zac Dawson, Brett Peake and Sean Dempster among them - out of contract. It will take some of Chris Pelchen's finest work to keep them all at Seaford in 2012. But with six picks at the draft, plus two youngsters secured before the draft, these aren't your Ross Lyon Saints any longer.

SYDNEY SWANS: With Tommy Walsh, Mitch Morton and Tony Armstrong, the Swans now have three more opportunities to weave their magic and cause their former clubs to ask why they let these players go. Refer Shane Mumford and Josh Kennedy. The Swans have two live draft picks and a first-round father-son selection in Tom Mitchell who from all accounts can seriously play.

WEST COAST: Josh Hill returns to Western Australia after five years with the Bulldogs. Home state and home cooking can't hurt but if you were picking the team for the start of next year, Hill would be unlikely to feature.

WESTERN BULLDOGS: Fringe players were all the rage at the Whitten Oval this time last year, but Brendan McCartney's focus at the Whitten Oval will initially be on the draft. Five picks, including two inside the top 40, should address some needs.

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs