Geelong coach Mark Thompson believes his side is nearing its best at the right time

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Geelong coach Mark Thompson has flagged massive changes ahead for the game with the introduction of free agency and two new clubs.

"It's a big change in the rules of the game - free agency and two new teams in three years," Thompson told AAP.

"It's just huge, it's going to have consequences on the quality of players you can get, how you contract players and how you do business.

"We're doing a lot of work in planning and coming up with blueprint on how we want to go forward."

The Cats have a history of developing their own players through the draft, with only Cameron Mooney (North Melbourne), Brad Ottens (Richmond) and Marcus Drum (Fremantle) coming from other clubs via trade.

"We've been a club that has traditionally recruited and developed our own players," Thompson noted.

"(With free agency) we might be forced to change the way we do business and look at another way of doing it, and that's by getting some ready-made players from other clubs.

"We've been good at adapting to all the rules and the way we do business, I'm sure we'll be okay.

"You'd hope that if you have a good club and players are happy at a club, they will accept less to be at your club, but I don't think that's guaranteed anymore.”