If the list of free agents for 2019 looks thin, consider how much more enticing it would have been had Chad Wingard, Steven May and Lachie Neale stayed at their original clubs this year, and if Dylan Shiel had signed a one-year contract and remained with the Giants.

Shiel, Wingard, Neale and May were all traded to the clubs of their choice last October as "pre-agents" - players who found new homes a year before they were eligible for free agency and whose clubs made the pragmatic decision to get better deals when they had leverage.

Pre-agents: Some of the big names who could shape the off-season conversation this year. Credit:The Age

Pre-agency - the term popularised by American sportswriter Bill Simmons - is transforming player movement in the AFL.

In 2019, the pre-agents already represent a far stronger and deeper field, in terms of quality, than the modest list of free agents that was released on Monday, in which Giants midfielder Stephen Coniglio is the clear standout.