Summer usually has football fans abuzz with news and speculation over who their favourite Premier League players will be lining out for next season.
And it almost seems there is a summer transfer window in full swing for the parties at Stormont, with several councillors switching allegiances in recent weeks.
The DUP is the latest to announce new recruits with two councillors joining its ranks in Newry, Mourne and Down District Council.
Read more: Brendan Hughes: Michelle O'Neill's call to respect differing views not matched by Sinn Fein
Alan Lewis has defected from the UUP, while independent councillor Henry Reilly has also signed up.
It will be seen as a boost to the DUP after its leadership turmoil in the wake of last year's revolt ousting Arlene Foster.
Much of the rancour played out in South Down with two councillors quitting amid the fall-out, and later the entire party officer team in the constituency quit over the selection of Diane Forsythe as their Assembly election candidate.
But the resigning councillors returned after Sir Jeffrey Donaldson became DUP leader and Ms Forsythe won the battle with outgoing MLA Jim Wells, who had quit the party to back the TUV candidate.
Two new recruits suggests a healing of wounds. Sir Jeffrey praised the newcomers joining a "vibrant and growing party within South Down".
It also restores the DUP's numbers in Newry, Mourne and Down after the party in February suspended councillor William Walker following his arrest on suspicion of child sexual grooming.
The defection of Mr Lewis, who had been one of the more high-profile councillors for the UUP, is particularly bad news for Doug Beattie's party.
His move will lend weight to the perception that the unionist vote since May's election is coalescing around the DUP in support of its strategy in opposing Brexit's Northern Ireland Protocol.
The Green Party is also having a tough time post-election after losing both their Stormont seats to Alliance.
Lisburn and Castlereagh councillor Simon Lee last week quit the Greens to join the SDLP.
And Newry, Mourne and Down councillor Cadogan Enright, a former Green Party representative who in more recent years sat as an independent, joined the Alliance Party.
He described Alliance as the "best vehicle" for a "positive and inclusive society".
While defections and new recruits can give parties the short-term hit of a positive headline, they do not necessarily mean all will be rosy in the long run.
Past experiences suggest there is by no means any guarantee of loyalty from those who have switched sides in the battle for party support.
Mr Reilly for instance has a track record for moving between parties, having previously been a member of the Ulster Unionists, Ukip and Jim Allister's TUV.
After Mr Lee defected to the SDLP it emerged he had previously made an approach to Alliance shortly after May's Stormont election, in which he ran unsuccessfully as a Lagan Valley candidate for the Greens.
Further discussions were held but the Castlereagh South councilllor some weeks ago decided against joining Naomi Long's party.
Ex-Irish senator Máiría Cahill was a high-profile SDLP co-optee in Lisburn and Castlereagh but the former councillor became a vocal critic of the party's partnership with Irish government party Fianna Fáil.
She later quit the party over their decision not to field a candidate in North Belfast during the 2019 Westminster election.
None of these recent new recruits are expected to be the next Arlene Foster or Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, who both quit the UUP and went on to lead the DUP.
But the moves show that councillors and parties are already considering their options and making preparations ahead of local government elections next year.
Star transfers may offer a quick morale boost, but Stormont parties know there is still a whole season yet to play for.
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