OK, I was wondering/gathering interest here to see if there's any die-hard fantasy nuts like me, up for a Fantasy draft-style A-League game? Don't think it's been done before so it'll be pretty unique.

Looking to have 8 or 10 players so would need at least 7 other people to be interested in order to go ahead. I'll run it all, my only requirement would be that the people making the commitment will see it through each week, at minimum it will only require 5-10 minutes sending through a line-up each week.

What I envisioned is this for all those interested to find a way to be on a chat client like skype, webchat to conduct the draft one night. It will be a snake draft, to be run on the FoxSports A-League game scoring system, to make things easier and simple. Also the management element being people choosing their lineups and formation everyweek as well as possible trade periods.

I'm happy for this to be run however the majority likes, there's no definite rules yet but I do have a few details and suggestions for all the rules, and mains points which I'll expand on once I see there's any interest. Eg, team sizes of 18 players.

For now, if anyone is interested, just reply to the thread and suggest their best time for coming together to conduct a live draft, or perhaps the times they can't make it. I'd ideally like to do the draft as soon as possible and I think the best times for all would be around 6-9pm (Eastern Aus time) on a week night or a weekend.

Thoughts?


[size=6]CURRENT TABLE[/size]


EDIT:
[size=7]Rules and Explanation on Page 2 HERE[/size]

[size=7]Teams and squads HERE[/size]

[size=7]Fixtures & Results HERE[/size]

Edited by AndyToddsElbow: 11/11/2012 12:06:34 AM

Edited by AndyToddsElbow: 10/12/2012 11:11:19 PM

Edited by AndyToddsElbow: 17/12/2012 10:19:51 PM

Bumping this. Any interest now that Fox Fantasy A-League is up n running?

Im in! I'll put my team together on my break today.

if things get finalised im interested...

perhaps ask for this to be moved to Extra Time, a few of the regulars there have shown some interest in something like this, but dont visit AF forum...

I don't really get the whole draft thing... but i'll work it out :D

I'm in :)

Sounds similar to what CWBush tried to run only he used FM. Im assuming this would work on the real life and use points system of fantasy football.

Sounds like something id be really interested in, i think moving to Extra Time would get lots more interest.

Awesome - replies! :D

Last day n a half have been weirdly busy for me but weekend has come so should be ok to sort through this, hopefully we can get a start on next week!



You do realise that this is a drafting manager game based on the fantasy scores of the Fox game, not a league run on the FoxSports fantasy game? Happy to have you onboard though! What will happen is we get together at a designated time, sort out a draft order, then pick as many players as we can that day/night to fill our teams and if we need to afterwards use this thread to pick the remaining players. With 10 people should fly through fast. Time limits etc to be decided later once we have players. Google snake draft and you will see what sort of fantasy sports game this is.



Yeah not on FM (although that'd be neat side-project if this happens and someone has the latest game) but the real players with real (fantasy) points scoring for your fantasy A-League side. Like the American Sports do.

Great, so we're up to 5 now so hopefully can get another 3 or 5 interested players. I've also sent a pm to a mod to move the thread, thanks for the suggestion.

Some questions for players to begin with (real important ones first):
Do you have Skype or any other chat service? Would you be comfortably downloading Skype or accessing another chat service?
What are the best times for you to be online to do a draft? Or what times are really inconvenient?
Are people happy for it to be a management game after the draft focussing on squad selection, requiring activity at least once a week?
No problem with using the FoxSport's system for points or determining the position of players? Depending on what rules we decide on, we could also use it as a team entry system.
Suggestions for league name (eg FFTFAL: FourFourTwo Fantasy A-League)and team naming conventions (eg name our teams after the actual teams, places like Aussie towns or World Capitals etc).

I'll post the rules tomorrow as I want to flesh out the post. I also have an excel sheet I'll happily distribute but I just need to fine-comb it and add a couple of the new players.

I'm interested, I'll try do my team tomorrow.

I don't know if I want to be in. It looks absolutely brilliant, but Im confused as hell as to how it works...

Thanks for the interest but you may be having the same confusion as Farrand93. You don't "pick" a side from FoxSports, you join 9 other players in conducting your own draft to form a new team, entirely made up of players you pick.

Can I ask what sentence/paragraph caused the confusion? I may have to change it to clarify things better, sorry.

If you want a better understanding google fantasy sports in general, maybe focus on the American sports and also find out about what a Snake Draft is, as that will be the system of drafting used.



Feel free to ask questions, happy to answer.

Edited by AndyToddsElbow: 15/9/2012 01:24:29 AM

Got skype and not a problem to log on. Weekend evenings or a tuesday or Wednesday evening are generally a good time for me.

With regards to involvment. I know im one for laziness and ropping out easily, so maybe if we had to be involved not so heavily weekly, people would be more interested. Just a thought.

I normally start these things and end up getting busy with work and missing a few rounds and than completely losing interest after that. So I will do you a favour and decline.

Don't worry mate, not you at all :lol: I blame it on posting it whilst I was really tired and readind Farrand's post and thinking that was what we had to do :lol: My bad. But yeah, Imkeen for this. We do a slightly similar thing in ET, and I'm playing Fantasy Football on the NFL site atm. I prefer the fact everyone has different players.

I want to play, but yeah, im also confused.

Ill see if i can get this right...

We all get together via skype or some means and then in a draft format we pick players. A player can only be picked once. eg. so if i have Theo, no one else can have him.

We eventually complete our squads with, im guessing 15 players.

Each week, we then tell Andy who we want in our starting 11, based on who we have in our squad.

Then depending on how they perform and thus the scores that the actual FoxSports fantasy game gives out, our players will get the same score.

Think im right???

Ok, I'll just post the rules and info I typed up, then I'll try and answer some questions:

Rules & Game Info

What is needed:
7 or 9 active players who love their football, love the A-League, love their fantasy games and will remain committed over the whole season (October to March)
Date and times available to conduct a live draft on skype or webchat

Team Composition
Total of 18 players
Have to have exactly 2 Goalkeepers
Minimum 4 defenders
Minimum 4 midfielders
Minimum 2 forwards

Match Day Squad
Any recognisable formation: 5-4-1, 5-3-2, 4-3-3, 4-4-2, 4-5-1, 3-4-3, 3-5-2
4 Substitutes Players to fill in if needed (including a goalkeeper)
Your 3 outfield subs may be any position but if you chose two players from the same position they must be listed in order of preference and formation restrictions apply for incoming substitutes.

Scoring
Done by the FoxSports Fantasy A-League scoring system.
See HERE for all the details.

Draft:
Snake draft (eg 1,2,3,3,2,1)
Random Lottery on who goes first. Picked on the night or we know beforehand once we have 10 teams, up to the managers.
1 goalkeeper in first 3 rounds. To stop poaching/hoarding and allowing everyone to get at least 1 playing goalkeeper.
Time limit. May have a limit of 1 minute per pick in the first 2 rounds, then out to 3 minutes for remaining picks, to help speed things along.
If people don't select in time (there will be leeway) then they automatically get the next best player according to FoxSport value using last years points and last name for sorting.

Fixtures
Will emulate the real-life fixtures. Randomly select who has which team’s fixture then base it on that. There’s no double fixtures this year, which is good for us.
Otherwise, will draw up a list of random fixtures to coincide with the gameweeks.

Trading
Allowed up to 24hr before first match of season
Trading Window during January
Every player has the right to vote to veto a trade within 48 hours of it being published but must explain why. 4 people at least must agree in order for the veto to happen
1:1 ratio of trading, can't trade 2 players to receive 1

Possible Rule Inclusions
These don't have to happen but if people want more to do then these could be included:
Waivers - being able to delist a player on your squad so you can pick up a free agent (non-selected player). The player put on a 'waiver' would then have a chance to be picked up by another club, who would then have to delist a player in their squad to be put on waivers (If more than one team wants the same player, lowest position on the ladder has the priority)
Mini-Draft at Mid-Season (likely in January)
Mini-Draft picks could be used in trading

Entering Squad before Matchday
This may be tricky to explain or decide what to do. I think that we have two options:
1) Before the kickoff of the first match, people send me their match day squad as a list with substitutes etc, for me to enter into an excel document and I then score manually
[size=4]2) We all sign up our teams on the FoxSports Fantasy A-League (FS FAL) and we do everything on our teams there and fill it out and let the FS computer doing the scoring[/size]

[size=4]One option contains a lot of work for me, the other requires everyone on the ball, logging in somewhere else and maintaining the team there but would also require trust in the other competitors in that no one will "chuck" a spanner in the works and create a completely different team to what they drafted

I prefer option 2 because it is a lot easier for everyone, no human error and it spreads the work load around whilst also letting each coach/manager press the buttons and feel like they're doing something. I'd have a harsh, you screw up your team bad on purpose and you're out rule (for people that just put in a player they haven’t draft), but I'm hoping the 7-9 other managers who play will be mature and want to have fun doing so. Other problem I see that could happen is that if you do more than one transfer to change your drafted team lineup, you will incur a point penalty from FoxSports, which is why the league and the Team scores will all be done by me but at least the setup and team selection is down by everyone. Salary cap could be a risk but I don't think it is likely[/size]

EDIT: We're going with Option 1

Too help people that may be busy, in either of these scenarios, if no one enters a team, or misses the deadline because they are busy they get the last team they entered, they just risk zeros etc..
This of course is up to everyone, we can make it so that you have to enter a team or you get a zero score, although going Route 2, leaving as it is would be considered entering a team anyway.

Nasty Stuff (eg Inactivity)
I'm hoping that nothing will happen but we have to be prepared that some people may be inactive and not enter teams or just don't feel like playing anymore. What penalties should be imposed? Will we kick managers and let someone else take over? How many weeks missed is enough? These are all things we need to decide as a group
This is where, if you have missed out on all of this, you can be a reserve and as long as you are active and willing to play, you may have a part yet.
The A-League season is over a busy holiday times, so I don't doubt people may be doing other things which is why I am happy to allow caretaker managers, so long as it is all amicable and there's no problems

*****
So thoughts about all this. Is it easy to understand? Do you have any questions? Is there anything you would like to see included?
I would like the input of those that have played these sorts of fantasy games before, your knowledge will help make things run smoothly and may help others understand too.

Edited by AndyToddsElbow: 27/9/2012 05:58:06 PM

Edited by AndyToddsElbow: 9/10/2012 08:06:04 AM

Great that we got 2 new players! 3 spots remaining now, hopefully the rules being up entice people to join.



On this thought, what do you think of the second way I've given of entering match day squads? If we join up on FS after we've made our teams, then you could always just leave a team as entered until you get back. My worry is people dropping out mid-way and then never returning at all.



Yeah, I chose 18 as the number because it allows you to have more depth in your team, but also leaves enough players outside of teams, so that if there is another draft or people want some sort of waiver system, then there's a large enough pool of players out there.

There are only 12 players people must have (2GK,4D,4M,2F) so it allows flexibility and manager's own choice how they want to fill those other positions.

Edited by AndyToddsElbow: 15/9/2012 08:17:55 PM

If there are spots available, I'm keen.

Actually scrap that, forgot I will be in Europe for 2 months, I'm out.

You could create a team on the foxsports fantasy which you could then just check. Thing with that is, youd have to select a team then that fits within the budget?

Im really excited about this, im also just a bit worried some may lose interest midway or something. ive been wanting to play a game like this for some time.

Ah bugger!



With the budget thing, I'm not sure there's going to be that many super team, so the risk of being over budget is negated, that said it is a risk. Maybe something to hold off on until after the draft?

Bloody hell that Farrand bloke's a twit :lol:

Ok I have now created an Excel workbook with all the players that are currently available (up to date team's list as of today) as well as what they scored last season and their positions.

To get a copy, all you have to do is pm me. This is also a two-fold process: it will let me know who's reading all this and will confirm your participation in the fantasy competition and accept to play it by the rules listed above, that may change in the future but only if we as a group decide on it.

I also really need to know if people have/can get skype and what times they are best suited for to do a live draft it does need to be organised or we'll miss the fun part! Also any suggestion of league names, what team names should be etc would be great.

Ok, so its looking like a Saturday is the best day to hold this draft, the sooner the better so is everyone who signed up available this Saturday in the evening to do the draft? You will need to have at least 2 hours free, ideally 3 or 4 hours depending on how quick we do.

If we dont finish drafting, we will continue on in this thread, hopefully finishing up as soon as we can, having a 24hr rule if necessary.

I do need those who have signed up to message me so I can get the spreadsheet to you and organise skype. Also need at least one more person to sign on, then we will have 8 teams which will make things so much easier. So if you're undecided, join up! Or if you know a friend who's interested, drag them on here. :)

To make things easier, I'll give people carte blanche to name their teams. Just nothing outrageous ok and maybe keep it a football club theme. So nothing likes 'Snaggas XI' or 'hertygerty88'.

Quite looking forward to this, hope it doesnt die in the butt before it gets started. At the moment, cant think of anything that would restrict me on Saturday night, probably a bit of a later start would be good. 9/10 AEST

EDIT: I withdraw doubt i will be able to get on enough and its better if someone more comitated gets it

Edited by milan_7: 20/9/2012 06:23:31 PM

Great! That means we have 8 managers now so we can start the draft!

I hope to hear from everyone but please, message me with your skype names as well as your preferred starting times for the draft. So far those that have got make to me prefer to do it on a Saturday so the quicker we organise this the quicker we can get under was and sort out other things like trading, team set ups etc.

If you need Skype, its rather simple, just download it here and follow the instructions. You don't have to have a microphone, it works just like a chat room or "live" forum. Really easy to use.

Does anyone have any questions about drafting or what we will be doing?

Still on for saturday??

Gotta be honest, I'm not hopeful for this Saturday as I've only been contacted by 3 people. I'll send a message out, maybe people will get back to me and we can start this Saturday, if not then we do it the following Saturday but then that will be the absolute latest and we will have to finish all the drafting then and there.