TOMORROW the silly season will hit the AFLW with the 2023 Trade Period officially kicking off from Thursday 7 December.

Last season, Melbourne saw the retention of the majority of its playing list, with little movement throughout the period.

However, looking ahead to this year’s trade, the club’s AFLW List Manager Todd Patterson has said to expect more significant change in 2023.

“We had a really disappointing end to the season, not only the last game but the series of games leading up to that, so, we’ve been thoroughly reviewing the program and the playing list,” Patterson told Melbourne Media.

“We can certainly expect to see some movement this year.

“There’s already been some delistings announced and then there will be a number of other players that we’re collaborating with to get good outcomes for not only them but for the club as well.”

The trade period comes as an opportunity for clubs to prepare for the upcoming season in a number of ways, including the chance to focus on the upcoming draft.

With the 2023 AFLW National Draft occurring on Monday 18 December, less than two weeks away, Patterson said that the Demons would be using the next 12 days to generate the best overall outcome for the club.

“The overwhelming feeling amongst our club our program is that we’ve still got a lot of confidence in the list and whilst we don’t want to replicate what others have done, you’ve seen from Brisbane as a great example, that losing players is not necessarily the end of the world,” Patterson said.

“What has been missing through the expansion periods with our retention and our success at the backend of the draft is that we really missed out on getting some of that young talent through the draft.

“So, that is going to be a key focus for us, getting ourselves up the draft order as high as we can and really targeting that next wave to come with our already established 22 to 25-year-olds, which are some of the best players in the competition.”

In exciting news for the league, thanks to the introduction of a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) earlier this year, the off-season will see players and clubs sign long-term, multi-year contracts, similar to the AFL competition.

“It’s been an interesting period because now we can have players sign for up to four years and even beyond with the new CBA,” Patterson said.

“It’s really exciting for us and the playing group has been fantastic managing those conversation whilst we’ve been playing, which has been new for the competition.

“We’ve got some really exciting announcements that will come out in the next few days, so, we’ll see some significant commitments from significant players who have got a high standing within our program and within the competition.

“So, that’s going to be really exciting, and we’re thrilled that the players can see the journey we’re on.”

In the lead up to the trade period, a number of move requests from Melbourne players have been made, with Patterson updating the fans on the status of the Demons.

“At this point in time, we’ve had trade requests from four players with another player exploring their options,” Patterson said.

“Both Eliza West and Casey Sherriff have informed us of their intention to play for Hawthorn next year.

“Maddi Gay has recently informed us that she’d like to play for Essendon and Charlotte Wilson would like play for the Gold Coast SUNS.

“Libby Birch is currently exploring her options, so we’ll keep working through this with Libby and what that looks like moving forward.”