FANTASY FOOTBALL COMPETITION

Rules of the Game

League one

1. General Rules

Welcome to the Fantasy Football Competition where you get to coach your football team throughout the 2000 Home and Away Season. Depending on how well you manage your team this year, you could take your team all the way to the premiership, but as I said, that is up to you.

1.1 The Basics

Fantasy Football allows you to manage your own football team which is made up of players in the AFL. The goals and behinds scored by these players contribute to your teams score. So consequently, attacking forward players are preferred.

A players draft is conducted at the start of the season in which you get to bid for the players that you want. You can have a maximum of 25 players players in your squad whilst you must pick 18 of these to play each week.

Your team name is entirely up to you, and each team will compete in 18 rounds from round 1 to 18 whilst finals will be in the remaining 4 rounds. A team name cannot consist of part of an AFL team name. For instance, you team can't be the Legend Hawks or the West Coast Superchargers.

1.2 Home Ground Advantage

A home ground advantage will be calculated by adding a goal to the team that are playing home and minusing a goal for the team that are playing away. Home ground advantage applies for the home and away season as well as the finals. However there will be no home ground advantage in the grand final.

2. The Draft (setting up your team)

2.1 The start

Each team will have a salary cap of $2,000,000 (or $2000k) to be used for players. There will be four set up rounds of which each team can bid for any player in the AFL for a certain price. After each round, the team that bids the highest price will receive that player. The minimum amount able to bid for a player is $10k. Note: You are not required to spend all $2000k during the draft process as remaining funds can be used throughout the home and away season to obtain additional players and transfer players (see sections 2.3 to 2.5)

2.2 Bidding for players

Bids must be in multiples of $1k ($1,000). Each draft round has a deadline, once that deadline is passed then the team who bids the most for the player obtains him at that price. At each round you are required to bid for 20 players and it is naturally the big name players that are usually bidded for in the first draft round. If two bids are equal than it comes down to which ever player was bidded for first in their selections. If they were bidded for at the same time (eg both 5th selection) then it is decided by a toss of the coin. Each team will receive through email (or can bid through the internet) a bidding sheet to make their bids and will be told of their success after the deadline. Note that the maximum that you can bid for for all players in any one round is $3000k. This is to stop people ridiculously overbidding.

An example of a persons bidding is shown here

2.3 Delisting players

It may become necessary to delist some players because your team might have too many players who are injured or incapable of making the senior team and hence wont score any goals. By delisting a player, you may make room in your 25 man squad to sign a new player. Once a player is delisted, other teams may have the option of signing that player up. You will gain back half the players signing value when delisting. This number will be rounded down. For example a player that is signed for $15k, if delisted, the team will recieve back $7k. A player can be resigned by the same team that delisted him later on in the season. A team can delist a player whenever they want to.

2.4 Transferring players

Instead of delisting a player however, one might try to transfer a player to another team in exchange for a player back or money. It is entirely up to you and the team you are negotiating with as to what the deal compromises off. Whenever making a transfer, both teams have to notify me about any changes in money and/or players. Players can not be transfered in the last 4 rounds, nor in the opening bidding rounds (before round 1).

2.5 Signing a new player

If you haven't already spent all of your $2000k, you may with to sign up a player that has previously been delisted or was not grabbed in the draft process. Every week you will have the opportunity to sign players via the website. Similar to the draft process, the team with the highest bid for each player will obtain them at that price. If two bids are equal, than it is the team who is lower on the ladder who will recieve that player at the selected bid. Remember that the minimum amount for bidding for any player is $10k. Players can not be signed in the last 4 rounds. All special actions (delisting, transferring, signing) are due each week by wednesday 4pm.

3. The season

3.1 Matches

Each week you will be required to fill out a team sheet (via email or internet) comprising of the team you wish to place which must be in by the first game of the round (usually 8:30 friday). If a team is not reported than the previous weeks team will be used. All goals and behinds for the 18 nominated players will count towards your teams score. Depending on the number of teams in the competition finals will consist of the normal final 8 system used by the AFL

4. The timetable for 2000

Tuesday 1st Feb.
1st bidding round opens

Friday 11th Feb. 5pm
1st bidding round closes and results posted.
2nd bidding round opens.

Friday 18th Feb. 5pm
2nd bidding round closes and results posted.
3rd bidding round opens.

Friday 25th Feb. 5pm
3rd bidding round closes and results posted.
4th bidding round opens.

Friday 3rd March 5pm
4th bidding round closes and results posted

Wednesday 8th March 7pm
Deadline for team sheet for first round
Season begins

5. Tips for a successfully Fantasy Football Season

1. Read the rules about the game especially the draft process, if you are not sure then email me at jlowe@swin.edu.au

2. Study last years goal scorers carefully before making the all important first bid. A list of last years goal scorers is given via the link on the left

3. Whilst the first round draft is a great opportunity to get some big name goal-scorers, it also might be an opportunity to pick up some others players reasonably cheaply who may not be picked in the first round

4. When betting, refrain from using even numbers to bid because a bid of $51k will always be better than a bid of $50k

5. Remember when picking your team that it is the goal scoring ability of your team that you are interested in. A on-fielder who has 35 possessions per game may be a great player, but is of little use to your team!

6. Most importantly, have fun in the FREE competition. And good luck!

LEAGUE TWO

Introduction

At fantasy football, you have the option of being in league one, two or even both. Both leagues have slightly different rules which makes your job as coach that more challenging. Whilst the first league involves obtaining a different player base every year, the second league enables you to make contracts on players of up to three years, just like AFL football today. If you are interested in fantasy football, then you may choose league one, two or both as your preferred option.

Starting

Like league one (please read section 1), the start of the season for fantasy football league two will commence with a bidding system for players (section 2.1 and 2.2). This is the only year that this is to commence, as in future years a draft system will take place. Every team will be allocated 2 million dollars (or $2000k) on which to spend on players. The will be four bidding rounds where up to 20 players can be bidded for. Prices for these 20 players must be included when bidding and the smallest price for a player is $10k. Whoever bids the highest amount for a player will receive that player. As you are not expected to obtain all 20 players that you bid for in each bidding round, it is understandable that a total bid per round may exceed $2000k. But in the first round, the total bid must be less than $3000k to avoid any coach dramatically overspending. Do not spend all of your money as your may require it during the year to draft unsigned players.

Starting Contracts

Once a player is signed up, coaches have the option of signing that player for one, two or three years. It is recommended that if you have obtained a player for a relatively inexpensive price, then a three year contract may be good. However longer contracts are more risky, but may turn out in the end. It is also recommended that you have an even spread of one year, two and three year contracted players.

The Draft

After rounds 6 and 12, a draft process will take place where the team at the bottom of the ladder gets to choose an unsigned player to draft in to their team, followed by the second bottom team and so on. Drafting players are not compulsory and once the top team selects a player (or passes) then the bottom team will reselect and the process will continue. The minimum price for a uncontracted player is the predicted amount of goals they will kick for that year. For example if a player has kicked 9 goals in the first six matches, then it is predicted that they will kick (9 * 22 / 6) goals for the year, and that will be their asking price (rounded up). Naturally no player can be signed for less than $10k. This means that most drafted players are contracted relatively cheaply. So make sure that you have money in reserve to draft players throughout the year. Drafted players can only be drafted for the remaining of the year on the contract given, and at the end of the year will need to negotiate a new contract.

Re-signing players

At the end of the year a number of your players may be out of contract. This will mean that you will have to either resign them, trade them, or delist them from your team into the draft. A players reasking salary for the next year is given by the following method: a player will accept the maximum of (the previous years price or a regression model of what their price should be). A regression line model is used to analyse goals vs. salary, and a players asking salary will depend on how many goals were kicked by that player the year before. Note that this means that all players will not accept a resigning price smaller than their previous year.

Trading players

If you cannot afford to pay the player the asking salary that he wants (or don't want to keep that player) then you have the option of trading him to another club. By using the forum located on the main fantasy footy page, you can advertise the potential swapping of that player. You may wish to swap for one or more players that are asking for less money or swap for draft picks which will cost you less, and then you will be under budget with some money in the bank. Still in contract players can be swapped among teams, but the remainder of their contract will be paid out by the team into which the player is swapped into. Swapping players can only occur after the initial four bidding rounds. Money can also be used for trade.

Delisting players

If you have a player in which no-one else wants to trade (because he's not kicking goals or is asking too high a price), then the only option that you have is to delist him. This means that you do not get anything in return for that player, thus highlighting the importance of trading. It's better to swap for little rather than nothing. A contracted player may not be delisted whether or not he is injured or playing. The only exception to this rule is when a player (in real football) retires, and that player can be delisted from the team even when the contract has not expired. No benefit will the team get from the above situation.

Wage increases

The top 5 underpaid contracted players at the end of the year will demand a re negotiation of their contract. This means that you will have to pay them more for the remaining years of their contract. The price that they will ask is given using the regression model listed above, except for their asking price will be half of that using the model. IF the coach refuses to offer them a wage increase, then that player will continue on the small wage that they currently have, but will quit the club at the end of their contract. If a player quits a club, the club has the option of trading them for their asking price or delisting them. Return to the main fantasy football page