They don't call it the pre-season draft for nothing. Another week of training, a short break for Christmas and AFL clubs will be back into it with practice matches on their immediate horizon.

So how has the off-season been for your club?

ADELAIDE: Not a factor during trade week, and were gifted Daniel Talia, perhaps the best available key defensive prospect in the draft. But the problem for the Crows is their mounting injury toll. Nathan Bock (heel), Ben Rutten (knee), Nathan van Berlo (back) Brodie Martin (knee), Brad Moran (illness) are all missing significant chunks of the pre-season but the killer is rising star Andy Otten, who tore his ACL and will miss all of 2010. The Crows wouldn't want any more injuries.

BRISBANE: Michael Voss played Supercoach during trade week landing several players from other clubs, headlined, of course, by Brendan Fevola. The Lions supplied three of the seven pre-season selections to other clubs (Joel McDonald, Daniel Bradshaw and Scott Harding), but you suspect that much of the off-season at the Gabba has been taken up with how to deal with the fledgling AFL club setting up shop down the road.

CARLTON: People power wins again. After the online forums went into meltdown, recruiting chief Wayne Hughes had to front the Carlton board to explain why no talls were taken in the draft. With no Fev (or Judd for the first three rounds), the Blues were relieved not gave drawn any of the power clubs in the first three rounds.

COLLINGWOOD: Finally landed Luke Ball, although the process was not as smooth as they'd hoped. The alleged assault on Scott Pendelbury on the weekend send shivers through every AFL player and could have resulted in much more damage than a headache and a few chipped teeth.

ESSENDON: Saw off a chief executive and a captain, and with a president about to follow. But all according to plan and with a great deal of civility. We find out the new skipper next week. The one sour note was Michael Hurley being charged with assaulting an Indian taxi driver at a particularly sensitive time for race relations in Victoria.

FREMANTLE: Made a song and dance about signing Adam McPhee or to be more accurate, ‘bringing him back home'. It has been a quiet off-season for the Dockers, but not far beneath the surface, the jungle drums are beating. The Dockers simply must start well next year.

GEELONG: The Cats like to carefully manage their list, so the departure of Shane Mumford to Sydney was a blow. Interesting ploy to give several experienced players an extended off-season break. If any group of players can get away with it, it is Geelong's. James Podsialy was given a rookie berth, a great reward for a VFL stalwart. Surely Fred Cook can't be far behind.

HAWTHORN: Would have appeared to have upgraded their playing stocks with Josh Gibson and Shaun Burgoyne, hence the great expectation among the Hawthorn faithful with 30,000 members already paid up for next season and talk of 75,000 members, if not in 2010 then soon after.

NORTH MELBOURNE: There are unconfirmed reports that the Kangas might have moved into a new training facility. Haven't heard that much about it. The drafting of Majak Daw, the first Sudanese-born player on an AFL list is an exciting development for the game.

MELBOURNE: Has created great excitement about finishing 16th. Interesting approach to player numbers, handing the new recruits the famous numbers, such as Tom Scully getting Ron Barassi's no.31. At Richmond, like several other clubs, the kids have to earn them. We like the Richmond approach.

PORT ADELAIDE: The brand took a battering around the trade period and the best news of all for Port in the off-season is the likely move to the Adelaide Oval in 2014. The pairing in the coaches box of two of footy's more interesting identities - Mark Williams and Dean Laidley - will be intriguing.

RICHMOND: Incredibly low-key. About the only event of consequence at Tigerland was the retirement of Matthew Richardson, an event that briefly forced new coach Damien Hardwick to emerge from his cubbyhole.

ST KILDA: The Saints did no deal, rather than a bad deal for former skipper Luke Ball, letting walk to Collingwood through the draft rather than a trade. Ross Lyon got a contract extension but of most consequence might be the drafting of Irish youngster Tommy Walsh, who reportedly has the makings of a star.

SYDNEY: Daniel Bradshaw replaces Barry Hall as the hulking figure in the goal square and with Ben McGlynn, Josh Kennedy and Mark Seaby also new to the red-and-white, the Swans will look different in 2010. Paul Roos is overseeing his last pre-season and you kind of get the feeling he is ready to move on.

WEST COAST: With Ben Cousins gone and Daniel Kerr on a short leash, we hardly hear from the Eagles any more, at least in the summer. John Worsfold spent part of the off-season in France on a management course. Not sure what he came away with, but just once we'd like to hear him say: "Nous sommes tout simplement heureux d'obtenir les quatre points (We're just happy to get the four points).

WESTERN BULLDOGS: The off-season has all been about Barry Hall, really. The panacea to the club's preliminary final woes or a ticking time-bomb with the potential to destroy the club's season. An interesting sideline is the AFL contractual precedent that allows the club to tear up his contract if he goes off his nana and gets suspended for a considerable period of time.