It certainly doesn’t have the same glamour of the trade period or the national draft.
But the delisted free agency period has proved a happy hunting ground for the Hawks.
In its seven-year existence, the period has seen Hawthorn make three signings with one becoming a premiership player and the other a best and fairest runner-up.
Upon the inception of free agency in 2012, the concept of delisted free agency was designed to allow players who had not been offered a contract at one club to smoothly transition into another without having to go through the draft process.
Hawthorn became the first to invest in this opportunity, swooping on outgoing Geelong player Jonathan Simpkin.
Simpkin had played four games in his one and only season at Geelong in 2012 before being squeezed out, but his dream was not over as the Hawks offered him a lifeline.
He would quickly repay the faith the club showed in him.
The midfielder-forward was given his first chance to don the brown and gold in Round 6 of the following season, an opportunity he made the most of as he featured in 13 of the next 14 games.
A one-month hiatus from the senior side late in the season saw him win a VFL premiership with Box Hill before famously being called upon to line up in an ultimately successful 2013 grand final for Hawthorn.
Despite being the subject of a fairytale selection in 2013, Simpkin would experience the devastation of the other end of the stick when he was omitted from the Hawks side ahead of the 2014 grand final.
Hawthorn did not return to the delisted free agency well again until 2016.
But the Hawks again swooped in style, taking delisted Crow Ricky Henderson.
Henderson was a slightly different story to Simpkin, having made 90 senior appearances for Adelaide over eight years.
The Crow has since taken to life as a Hawk like a duck to water.
He has played 62 of a possible 68 games in his three years.
Season 2019 proved a career-best year for the 31-year-old as he finished second in the Peter Crimmins Medal count, averaging a career-high 24.6 touches across his 22 matches.
Former Saint Darren Minchington was the final piece of the trio with the Hawks taking the small forward in the 2018 period.
Unfortunately, Minchington didn't enjoy quite the same success in his time at the club with a spate of injuries interrupting his chances of a shot at senior level.
Whether Hawthorn makes any waves in the upcoming delisted free agency period remains to be seen.
But the club’s history would suggest that if it does choose to venture down that path, a diamond in the rough might be awaiting.
