In the annual bartering for football horse flesh, there's already been a stable's worth of stock traded elsewhere. Which leaves two even larger groups. Those AFL players who have been delisted and are looking for new homes, and those still waiting their turn, hoping to be picked up in the drafts.

Football clubs take many calculated risks over the course of a year, but perhaps none so obvious as the decisions taken in October and November.

After a year's worth of intensive scrutiny of young talent, do they back their judgments on prospects likely to be taken only lower in the draft pecking order? Or roll the dice on players they've already watched go around for a rival at AFL level?

It's no easy call, that between a kid with talent but still to prove he can survive the rigours of the AFL system, and a more seasoned player out-of-favour at his previous home but who has at least already done the developmental hard yards.

As the window for clubs to sign delisted free agents opens up on Saturday, some of the more familiar names on show will have their selling points to prospective suitors, depending on circumstances.

Carlton, for example, has jettisoned three players who'll all have some appeal elsewhere.

The interest of the Brisbane Lions and Richmond in Mitch Robinson is entirely understandable. The Lions have, in one off-season, put together a midfield with some serious depth and talent via the addition of Dayne Beams and Allen Christensen.

Add the return of Daniel Rich to the establishment of Tom Rockliff, Jack Redden, Pearce Hanley, Dayne Zorko, James Aish and Sam Mayes, and a player like Robinson becomes more icing on the cake, free to parade his bull-at-a-gate enthusiasm with far less pressure than he dealt with at times at Carlton.

Richmond, for its part, should it miss out on Robinson, could do worse than sound out another departed Blue, Brock McLean. While the knocks on his game haven't changed, his ultra-inside game is something the Tigers patently lacked in their very ordinary start to 2014. And given his hurt at his departure from the Blues, McLean is also a veteran still with a point to prove.

At the other end of the scale, meanwhile, is Kane Lucas, a No.12 pick in the 2009 national draft. Yes, his decision-making and execution can be a concern. But Lucas has pace, and had a career-best 2013 before coach Mick Malthouse clearly went cold on him this year.

Geelong is another club whose cast-offs may tempt some of their rivals, most obviously in the shape of Taylor Hunt, who is attracting interest from Brisbane and Richmond.

The calculation either has to make is whether the groin and shoulder injuries that have plagued his past two seasons are the major factor in his demise for the Cats. Backing the "yes" argument would be a 2012 in which he played 21 of 23 games and performed some very handy lockdown roles.

The Cats also have other scratchings barely mentioned in discussions thus far, such as George Burbury, Jesse Stringer, Jackson  Sheringham and Jordan Schroder.

Stringer, in particular, is a tempting prospect. An exciting midfielder, his football early in 2012 was as impressive as any of Geelong's up-and-comers until a badly timed off-field indiscretion led to his suspension for the rest of the year, with the early form never subsequently replicated.

Even Schroder, despite only five AFL games in three seasons, could have some appeal. He is strong-bodied, capable of being used midfield or even as a small forward, and coming off some very impressive VFL form.

St Kilda announced on Friday that it would lodge paperwork on Saturday to claim former Swan Tim Membrey.

St Kilda's apparent interest in former Crow Shaun McKernan also appears worth the punt.

McKernan lost decisively a battle with Josh Jenkins for a spot as an Adelaide key forward. But any recruiting manager will agree talls at the draft table can be a sizeable gamble in their own right.

McKernan has six AFL seasons and 30-plus games under his belt and is still only 24. And the Saints have fared OK of late with some taller AFL-experienced conscripts in the likes of Tom Hickey and Josh Bruce.

Clubs in the market for a small forward will at least consider another former Crow in Jared Petrenko or ex-Tiger and Roo, Robin Nahas. A far bigger gamble of the same type, meanwhile, would be former Lion Todd Banfield, now delisted by Richmond after a year as a rookie in which he fired barely a shot.

It's three years since Banfield recorded a top 10 best and fairest finish for Brisbane for a second year in a row and the chance for him appears to have gone. But who is to say definitively that a change in circumstance and surrounds once more mightn't just tap into that dormant talent?

After all, every one of the 90 to 100-odd players delisted each season have football convictions of some sort. The trick at this time of year is for AFL clubs to balance those black marks and concerns about what various players can't do alongside the ledger of what they can.