Trade season came and went without much fanfare - the noted exception would be the "mega deal" between West Coast, Richmond, Collingwood and Fremantle. To get your head around this deal, you'd have to understand the workings of the AFL draft, pre-season trading and what clubs want in return for giving up star players.

Graham Polak, the hard-working Fremantle defender, has been traded to Richmond in return for a three-year deal with the club. Fremantle, in return, received Richmond's first and third-round drafts picks, numbers 8 and 42 respectively, while Richmond recieved Fremantle's first-round number 13 draft pick and fourth round, number 63 pick. Complex? You bet! And it just gets better from here on in.

Chris Tarrant, the enigmatic forward from Collingwood, sought a trade to the West Coast Eagles, West Coast were reported to have offered midfielder Chad Fletcher to sweeten the deal, a rumour denied by the Eagles recruiting manager. But in the end it proved that Collingwood wanted more than West Coast were willing to offer and no deal was concluded.

On the final day of trade week, Chris Tarrant was scooped up by the Fremantle Dockers. Apparently this was his second choice of club, though he later claimed it was his first, which is factually incorrect. The complex deal of getting Tarrant to Fremantle ended up seeing three players change clubs, numerous draft picks exchanged and on-traded to sweeten the deal.

So here is how it went down. Polak to Richmond in exchange for picks 8 and 42 of the national draft; Paul Medhurst, the mercurial Fremantle forward, was then traded to Collingwood in exchange for the five-time leading goalkicker Tarrant - and to add sweetness to the deal, Fremantle then on-traded pick 8 to Collingwood, This was enough for the Pies to let go of Tarrant and the deal was done.

To complete the mega deal, the Pies and Tigers then swapped fourth-round draft picks, Richmond getting Collingwood's pick 60 and Collingwood getting Richmond's pick 63 which was initially traded by Fremantle.

I find that trade week is one of the most difficult to keep up with. The possibilities are endless; the mess, usually quite significant, can see players in limbo and uncertain of their playing future. A perfect example of this was hawthorn ruckman Peter Everitt's desire for a new two-year contract with the club. They were only prepared to offer the 32-year-old a one-year deal. Hawthorn then sought to have Everitt traded and his former club St Kilda showed strong interest in retaining his services - but his preference was to play for the Sydney Swans. Everitt was prepared to nominate himself for the pre-season draft and at the last minute a deal with Sydney was reached, thus avoiding limbo status that can eventuate if a club chooses not to draft you. In return, Hawthorn recieved national draft pick 33, Everitt got his two-year deal with the Swans and a salary reportedly worth 500,000 dollars per year.

Personally, I don't believe a 32-year-old player should be taking up the spot of a younger talent. Everitt seems determined to end his career on a high note and the highest note in AFL is the Premiership Cup in September. But I'm not sure he'll attain the goal he's been dreaming of. At best the Swans will be a top eight team in 2007, at worst they won't make the finals at all. But they're not likely to make another grand final with the likes of  West Coast, Western Bulldogs and Fremantle nipping at their heels.

The national draft commences in less than a month. We'll soon know where the next crop of young talent is going to end up. A player to look out for in the draft is Nathan Krakouer, nephew of former greats Jimmy and Phil Kraouer. He’s the fastest over the all-important 20-meter sprint, he’s co-captained the Australian Indigenous side which recently toured South Africa, and is a product of the much-revered Clontarf Aboriginal Football Academy. Expect big things from Krakouer; he has big shoes to fill and he'll undoubtedly fill them, given his pedigree.

All in all, 2007 promises to be another exciting year. The fixtures are out, the trade week has come and gone, the draft isn't to far away and before you know it teams will be back into pre-season training. I for one cannot wait!