FANTASY FOOTBALL RULES
Conduct: All entrants are required to act only in their own best interests. Collusion with an opponent or selecting teams with the intention of assisting somebody else is not allowable. Punishment is at discretion of administrator but invitation to compete in following season may be revoked.
Entry: Entry into the competition is dependant upon a position being available and at the discretion at the administrator. In general terms a first in first served basis but factors such as eagerness, reliability and previous attitude can be taken into account when supply exceeds demand.
Payment: The cost of entry for 2017 is $100, this has been static since 2008 and is unlikely to rise again any time soon. Payment is to be made by the end of Round 4. Failure to pay by this time will see a point deducted on the ladder each week until such time as payment is made.
The Draft: The Draft is held as close to the start of round 1 as convenient on a date set by the administrator. Attendance at the draft is necessary to participate in the competition, however if circumstances prevent this, a proxy can attend on your behalf. The draft commences with the 10 entrants in each division randomly selecting numbers to indicate the draft order. Playing cards are the tool of choice for this but any random system can be used.
Player #1 has first pick through to Player #10. For the second round the order is reversed with #10 selecting first. This alternates throughout the 30 rounds until each player has got a list of the 30 unique players that will comprise their squad for the first 9 rounds.
The Midseason Draft: The Midseason Draft is held in the week between round 9 and round 10, as this is when each team has played each other once and marks the half way stage of our home and away season. Upon arrival of the 10 entrants, each player announces which members of their squad they wish to keep, the remainder of their players are considered "delisted". There is nothing to stop players discussing who they are dropping with other players prior to the draft to assist each other in saving time on studying lists.
Once the delisted players are known, drafting commences with the player last on the ladder having first selection followed by the 9th ranked player and so on until each player again has 30 players again (if you have dropped 5 you will only participate in first 5 rounds of midseason draft and so on). Draftable players include those who have been delisted by other players or yourself as well as those not drafted at the original draft. Unlike the initial draft, the draft order (10 to 1) is the same for every round of the midseason draft to assist in the goal of evening the competition.
Divisions: One of the foundations upon which the competition is built is that each league or division should comprise 10 teams which allows a fair and equitable draw where each team plays each other twice. It also ensures that the player pool is consistently spread over the years allowing comparison of scoring trends, etc. Each division runs as a completely independent competition linked only by promotion/relegation and the Knock Out cup.
Selection: Each week, players must select their teams, a senior team and a reserves team. Each team consists of
3 Forwards
3 Midfielders
1 Ruckman
1 Tackler
1 Interchange
Players on your list can be selected in any position and can be used in different positions each week if the coach so desires. The interchange player in the seniors can be selected in the reserves team but is withdrawn if used in the seniors, for more information on the interchange see the specific section below. If a team does not have enough selected players to fill both it’s seniors and the reserves teams, the reserves must be the team that plays short. Only players named by their AFL clubs can be selected in a fantasy team to stop people looking to stack their reserves when they have insufficient players to fill 2 teams.
Bye Rounds: In rounds where there are multiple byes, team selections will be reduced to 2 forwards, 2 midfielders, 1 Ruck, 1 tackler, 1 interchange.
Team Submission: Before each round a player is required to select their team (see above) for the round and submit their teams to their opponent (including cup opponent where appropriate) and to the administrator. THE DEADLINE FOR TEAM SUBMISSION IS ONE HOUR PRIOR TO THE FIRST GAME OF EACH ROUND. Teams must consist of 3 forwards, 3 midfielders, a ruckman, a tackler and an interchange and be named in that order to avoid confusion.
Teams can be submitted via email or sms.
Partial Lockouts: On rounds where the first game is before the AFL teams have been released for the round (ie a Thursday game, or earlier if Anzac day or similar causes fixture changes), a team must be submitted prior to the first game, but changes will be allowed up until the usual deadline (ie Friday night match). Changes are restricted to players whose team have not yet played. You also cannot use a player from the "early" game as your interchange player. THis rule is aimed at preventing the "loophole" scenario where you can opt to take the interchange score or not...
Non-Submission: Failure to submit team to the administrator prior to the weekly deadline results in the team remaining unchanged from the previous round and a one point ladder penalty applying. Failure to submit a team in the opening round of the season sees the team awarded the lowest score of the week minus one point (to ensure a loss) and a one point ladder penalty.
Scoring
Forwards: A teams 3 forwards are awarded points based exactly on what they kick, ie Fraser Gehrig kicks 3 goals 2 behinds his fantasy team gets 20 points
Midfielders: A teams 3 midfielders are awarded 1 point for each possession they gather (kicks + handballs). ie. Scott West gets 27 possessions this is worth 27 points or 4 goals and 3 behinds.
Ruckman: A teams ruckman is awarded 1 point for either every mark, or every hit out they get, whichever scores better. ie SAndilands gets 52 hit outs and 6 marks, you would score 52 points, but if he scored 4 hitouts and 6 marks, you would score 6 points.
Tackler: A team’s tackler is awarded 4 points for every tackle. ie Brett Kirk gets 8 tackles his team will be awarded 32 points or 5 goals and 2 behinds.
Interchange: See below.
It is important to note a player is only awarded points in the category in which they are named so if you name James Hird as a forward and he kicks no goals but has 25 possessions, you score no points.
Interchange: Should a player in your selected team not play for his team (ie late withdrawal or omitted after initial selection) the interchange player will come in to the team in his place. Should multiple players withdraw, the interchange will go into the place where he has scored the highest number of points. If the seniors interchange player is used, he is automatically withdrawn from the reserves team and replaced in that team by their own interchange player.
The Ladder: 4 points are awarded to a team that wins a game, 2 points each are awarded for drawn games. Points can be deducted for breaches of rules as mentioned elsewhere in this document.
Finals
The top 5 teams on the ladder at the completion of Round 18 play in the finals series, which is scheduled using the McIntyre final 5 system as follows.
Round 19: Qualifying Final – 2nd v 3rd
Elimination Final – 4th v 5th.
Round 20: Second Semi - 1st v Winner of Qual Final.
First Semi – Loser of Qual Final v Winner of Elim Final
Round 21: Prelim Final – Loser 2nd Semi v Winner 1st Semi.
Round 22: Grand Final – Winner 2nd Semi v Winner of Prelim Final.
Should a finals game be drawn the team that finished higher on the ladder at the conclusion of Round 18 is deemed to be the winner.
Reserves Finals: If your reserves are playing on any given week of the finals and your seniors are not, your reserves team may only include players deemed to be qualified. In order for a player to be qualified they must have played equal or more games in the reserves than in the seniors during the opening 18 rounds. (Note that when seniors and reserves playing in same week selection is as per normal and no restrictions apply)
A list of eligible players will be sent to all teams whose reserves qualify for finals at the conclusion of Round 18. Should somebody select an unqualified player they will be treated as if they didn’t play and the interchange player will replace them.
Promotion / Relegation: At the end of each season, the bottom two teams on the ladder are relegated to the next division down (presuming there is a division below them). They are replaced by the 2 teams in the lower division who made the grand final in the previous season. Should players from divisions other than the bottom division withdraw, the 9th ranked team in that and subsequent divisions will avoid relegation in order to keep the required numbers. Additionally, should further players withdraw the 10th player avoids relegation followed by 3rd 4th 5th etc based on the order after finals in the lower division being promoted.
Statistics: AFL official statistics are the stats used for this game. They are available at afl.com.au as well as in newspapers such as the Herald Sun and The Australian. Where there is uncertainty or a discrepancy between the sources, the AFL website will be used as the official stats (note the website often posts preliminary stats immediately after the game - these are not finalised until approx 30 minutes post game)