Sometimes you’re just plain stiff.

Keeping secrets in the AFL is getting harder and harder thanks to the iPhone era where a picture of a coffee catch-up between a player, his manager and club officials can be on social media before they’ve even paid the cheque.

There have been some famous cases where despite best efforts to take every precaution an unexpected turn of events has caught out some of the game’s biggest names.

Gary Ablett getting busted talking to the Gold Coast when he still had a year to run on his contract with Geelong is the biggest ‘Gotcha’ moment.

The Suns and Ablett’s manager Liam Pickering would have thought they had all bases covered, it was December and the Cats superstar seeking some relaxing sun in Broadbeach that time of the year wasn’t out of the norm.

Unfortunately the apartment building where the secret meeting took place also happened to be where Port Adelaide were staying for a pre-season camp with the Power players quickly reporting the sighting of Ablett and Suns officials.

More recently Joe Daniher, who was struggling at Essendon at the time, was busted walking into the house of Sydney Swans CEO Tom Harley by GWS Giants player Adam Tomlinson.

It turns out Tomlinson lived around the corner from Harley and quickly passed on the sighting as he drove past to his own people. Daniher requested a trade to Sydney a few months later before ending up in Brisbane the following year.

Nowadays player agents are getting more and more jumpy with every precaution taken to avoid prying eyes.

One leading manager has even found an “off-Broadway” suburban cafe where the average age of the clientele is 70 plus with minimal chance of any eavesdropping given the prevalence of hearing aids among the fellow diners.

Different clubs have their preferred stomping grounds with Cheeky Monkey in Swan St a favourite given its proximity to Collingwood, Melbourne and Richmond’s training bases.

With a number of interstate clubs having their Victorian offices based at Marvel Stadium – including Fremantle, Brisbane and West Coast – the 90 Secondi restaurant which is just near Gate 1 is a regular meeting point.

Phoenix Management Group, led by former Bomber Scott Lucas and Winston Rous, also have their offices in the Docklands precinct.

The Italian restaurant particularly does a roaring trade in October when trade week is in full swing given it’s a perfect place to finalise paperwork between managers and club officials before lodging at league’s headquarters downstairs.

During his long reign at Essendon, recruiting boss Adrian Dodoro, would hold his meetings at the cafe he had a stake in, Bay 101 in Port Melbourne.

Airport lounges are also a favourite for jetsetting football types to do business in a quiet corner while junior carnivals are often the starting point for many a deal given managers, recruiters and list bosses are all assembled in the one place.

This month’s U/16 championships on the Gold Coast was a perfect example. It’s always circled in the calendar given its timing with just a couple of months left in the season and clubs wanting to ramp up their pursuit of targeted players.

Managers are on the ground there as they scout the next star juniors they want to sign – they’re not allowed to officially talk to the U/16 players until October – with a few favourite meeting spots in Broadbeach including the No Name Lane cafe and the popular wine bar Moo Moo.

But the reality now in the secret world of AFL player movement is the megadeals are happening well away from the public eye at the homes of either club officials, sometimes the president if the big sell is on, or the manager’s abode under the cover of darkness … away from iPhones and rival club pre-season camps.