SOME big names have been thrown around as clubs gear up for the 2016 NAB AFL Trade Period, which kicks off on Monday morning.

For that we can thank the events following the 2001 season. In terms of shock value, Hawthorn trading Trent Croad to Fremantle for the No.1 draft pick after just four years and seemingly on the crest of stardom, has never been matched.

Croad was the diehard Hawks fan from the club's eastern suburban heartland, who spent his winter Saturdays perched on the brown-and-gold painted terrace seats in the outer at Waverley.

Key dates for the NAB AFL Trade Period

His last game for the club in 2001 was a good one as the Hawks went within nine points (and a few debatable umpiring calls) from upsetting red-hot flag favourites Essendon in the preliminary final. Hawthorn types still wonder "what if" had a monster shot for goal from Croad from 50 metres out from goal in the final quarter not grazed the post and kept the Bombers just in front of the fast-finishing Hawks.

Yet while Croad was titillating the Hawthorn faithful, club management was already plotting to move him out the door. The Hawks had identified a void, both in elite midfielders and leadership and the 2001 draft offered them the chance to address both in one fell swoop.

Chris Judd, Luke Ball and Luke Hodge had had the recruiters salivating all year. The Hawks would eventually choose Hodge and would not experience even a moment of buyer's remorse. He has been one of the all-time greats of a club chock full of champions.

The Croad trade remains one of the all-time great ones. The final deal also saw emerging, but homesick key defender Luke McPharlin also traded to the Dockers, with the Hawks receiving additional draft picks in return.

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One of these was pick No.36. The Hawks had already used four selections that draft, so that pick was seen as "the set of steak knives". They used it on a ball magnet from Box Hill, Sam Mitchell.

For Hawthorn, it is the trade that keeps on giving, although the Dockers did well too. After winning just two games in 2001, they added Croad, McPharlin and Melbourne duo Jeff Farmer and Troy Simmonds. Within two years they had made the finals for the first time.

Fremantle's willingness to trade the No.1 pick was rooted in the firm belief that whoever they selected would either return home at the first opportunity or worst still, not come across at all. The Dockers didn't have much going for them at that time other than a vast grip on reality.

The combination of Fremantle's pragmatism and Hawthorn's derring-do produced an AFL trade that set the benchmark for all others.

The architects of the deal might have been John Turnbull and John Hook on the Hawthorn side and Phil Smart and Cameron Schwab over at Fremantle, but it was Hawthorn's coach at the time, Peter Schwab who gave it the all clear. He had the most to gain – and lose – out of the deal.

Peter Schwab is now the list manager at the Brisbane Lions. After three lean seasons, the Lions need to be bold and ambitious. They hold the second pick in the draft and it is reportedly on the table when the trade period commences on Monday. Club captain Tom Rockliff and Pearce Hanley are also up for discussion.

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Trading out the skipper won't likely spark angry Lions supporters to protest in the streets as Hawthorn supporters did with Croad back in 2001. But it will be the mark of a club with ambition and a deep-seated desire to get better.

And isn't that what supporters will be wishing for over the next 12 days or so? Exchanging mid-range players for mid-range draft picks is a necessary tool of list management for AFL clubs and help fuel the massive interest in the trade period. If the reports are true there will be plenty of these types of trades to come.

But the trades out of left-field, those that mark a real determination to improve, they're the ones we want to see next week. Brian Lake and Shaun Burgoyne to Hawthorn. Tom Boyd to the Bulldogs. It is no accident that the last four premiers have all acted boldly at the trade table.

We're channeling all things Western Bulldogs at the moment, so as we pause during this footy-free weekend ahead of the trading frenzy starting Monday, my message to the 18 clubs is the same as that of Bulldogs legend Ted Whitten to his players at the final change of his final game as a player back in 1970: "You have to inspire me!"