A busy period is about to commence for the club’s list management team with the free agency period, trade period and national draft to take place over the next few months.

As the playing group complete their reviews for the 2014 season the club’s recruiting department looks towards how it can improve the club’s list for 2015.

General Manager Football Operations Rob Kerr said the club was continuing to formulate a plan on how they would approach the next few months.

"It is a pretty busy period at this time of year as we obviously have to get through the review process but it is a really important time for the recruiting team," he said.

"The recruiting team led by Adrian Dodoro and Merv Keane will be looking forward to the AFL Combine in the next couple of weeks."

"There is a lot of work done at the potential talent subject to where our picks finish. 

“Adrian will then be having discussions with a view towards how our trade period might pan out.

"It gets fairly busy, the free agency period starts immediately after the Grand Final so there is not much down time."

Essendon players officially went on leave on Thursday following a two-day review period with all players getting at least an eight-week break.

Kerr said the playing group deserved the break that they now receive.

"The one to four year players won't be back until November 5 which is the Wednesday after the Melbourne Cup."

"The players that have been on the list for more than five years will come back on November 17."

"They get a decent break and then another two weeks over Christmas but obviously next year with the later start to the season it will be that little bit longer when they come back from January through to round one."