I have started a league in the AFL Dream Team comp. I intend it for Melbourne Gamers. (League title "Billabong & Co").

For those who haven't joined one before. You are allocated a lot of virtual moeny. You have to buy exactly 30 players with it. Each week during the Home & Away season, your players score you points for their stats they rack up on the field. It'd probably take a serious competitor an hour each week from Thursday 5pm-ish to Friday at 7pm to re-jig the team, do trades etc. All the rules are there.

PMme your preferred email address & I'll shoot you an invitation. The good thing is you'll probalby know almost all of the others in the league, which makes it far better than just joining in a public league.

Regards
Julian

Hey Julian,

Yep, I'm up for it. I've already done a team but can't remember which league it's in!

If someone could run me through the very basics, I wouldn't mind trying it.

Ryan,
Which bit of the basics do you want?

How it works...
Each AFL player is assigned a cost (cash amount) based on the number of possessions (how well they play) each game.
You purchase a team of players with limited cash (i.e. you cant just pick all the top players for each position).
I think in the dreamteam you get 10 million to purchase your team.

So you have registered your team what happens next. After round 3 if you are in a league (which is what Julian is proposing) you play against other 'coaches' in that league. The team that racks up the most points (stats / possessions etc) wins. Near the end of the season there is a finals type arrangement.

Throughout the season the idea is to watch your team each week and make trades (20 per season) to adjust your team and try to improve them.

The starting team has a big say your overall season.
There are people that spend hours on this and I would say it takes a season to work out what the hell is going on. I have been playing for a couple of season now and I find I have fun playing against people I know and I spend probably an hour a week looking at my team to get it ready each week. You can obviously spend more or less than that but I think that is a good average. It helps keep my interest in the AFL (not just my team, Go Hawks!) and gives me something to talk about at work etc.

Jump in, the worst that can happen is you dont like it and forget about it, not really a big deal in the grand scheme of things, though Julian might disagree.

My 2 cents over.

Tim

OK, Tim has hit it right on the head. Just pick a team which costs the right amount of money & you're in with a chance. The 'skill' part only comes if you know the players & recognise new & up-coming talent. Unnecessary. All you need to do is watch for injuries & suspensions, (swapping players to your bench or trading them - depending on the nature of the injury or suspension). If you decide to drop out, that's cool, or if you ask for advice, in Melbourne you'll get a hundred & one opinions to help.

When I arrived here, I was already 7th on my work tipping comp - it helped me fit in right away. Colleagues will be more than willing to fill you in. We'll have you a member of an AFL team & heading to the MCG every weekend in no time!

Julian

We should get a MelbourneGamers tipping comp going too. Official AFL tipping opens on Monday by the look of it.

Good to see we have a few gaming sports fans. Sports are games too!

I'll give it a go.

I enjoy the game and usually do well at tipping but don't know who many of the players are so this might help me follow it a bit better.

First game of the NAB Cup starts tonight. Essendon 2.84/West Coast 1.54 on Betfair. Go bombers!

I normally do a couple supercoach teams so I'd be up for a dreamteam one.