For those who take the selection of their fantasy football team seriously, you're probably already aware how the loophole works. For those who don't there is a refresher at the bottom of this article. The loophole principle can be applied to the selection of your VC each week, but can also be applied to the selection of emergencies.

For the loophole to work, you need a non-active player. For maximum flexibility, the non-active player is preferably from a team which is playing in a late timeslot during a given round.

Analysing the Fixture

To assess which teams have more favourable fixtures in terms of providing a loophole target, I analysed the fixture in terms of when each team played each round. The first timeslot of the round was allocated a score of 1 and the second timeslot was allocated a 2, etc. Where timeslots differed by less than an hour, I considered them to be the same. The results are shown in the table below:



Round 23 has a floating fixture until a few weeks prior, hence has been left out at this time. The bye rounds (R13-R15) have been included for completeness, however any player from a team with a bye can be used for a loophole - meaning that every team should have more than enough options to choose from during these rounds.

Further Analysing the Fixture

Drilling into the details a bit further, I took a look at how each team compared over the first four rounds, the first eight rounds, the first 12 rounds (i.e. before the byes) and over the entire season. The results are shown below:



Over the first four rounds, Geelong and Hawthorn present the best value for a loophole option, closely followed by Brisbane and Fremantle, North Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs. Richmond and to a lesser extent Essendon are terrible, due to the early timeslots that these teams play early in the season. Adelaide and Collingwood are not much better.

Looking a little further ahead to cover the first 8 rounds however, the picture changes. Brisbane is well clear on top of the list with the best value for a loophole option, whilst Adelaide and Richmond provide the worst overall value during the first 8 rounds.

The picture again changes if the first 12 rounds are considered, with West Coast, Collingwood and St Kilda rising to the top of the value ladder and Hawthorn assuming last place for loophole value.

Clearly the interpretation of "loophole value" is dependent on how far across the season is under consideration.

Cheap ruck options for R3

Some interesting conclusions can be drawn from the analysis, particularly regarding the player selected at R3 for your team. Given that in 2015, there were hardly any cheap ruck players who played a game - many teams focused their R3 selection on their value as a loophole option.

If you are considering an R3 selection primarily based on their loophole value, I'd suggest that the first four rounds are most important. Any further into the season and most teams begin to have other non-active players on their bench due to rookies being dropped or injuries/suspensions etc. R3 selection based on loophole value could perhaps consider the first 8 rounds, at a stretch.

Let's look at the options for a cheap F/R player to be selected as an R3. The $102k options are Loersch (GC), Chol (Rich) and Wyatt (Coll).

Over the first four rounds, none of these players are particularly valuable as a loophole target, with their teams ranking 12th, 15th and 18th respectively. But if you wanted to split these guys, Loersch is certainly better value than Wyatt, who is better value than Chol, who is terrible value, playing in the first timeslot of R1, R2 and R4.

Over the first eight rounds however, there is better separation between these three F/R cheapies. Wyatt is clearly much better across the first eight rounds (with his team ranked 4th) compared to Loersch (15th) and Chol (17th). Wyatt is also the best choice from these guys if the first 12 rounds (up to the byes) are considered.

There are of course other cheap ruck options of the three players that I have looked at in detail above. Personally I am interested in an R3 who has F/R because I am also interested in selecting an F4 who has F/R status.

For those who aren't attempting to open a DPP link, I'd recommend Goetz (WB) as the best cheap option for R3 for providing loophole value over the first four rounds. Across the first eight or twelve rounds, Wyatt is the overall better value from the $102k rucks. However, it is important to note that Wyatt plays in the first timeslot of Round 2 and thus provides no loophole option during this round.

Who will you be selecting as your R3 this year?

Will it be based on their loophole value, and if so what is your criteria for determining who presents the best loophole value?

How the loophole works

As promised this section of the article is a walkthrough on how to use the loophole.

Step 1. Choose a player from an early timeslot and make them your VC.
Step 2. Choose another player from a later timeslot and make them your C.

If your VC scores poorly, simply stick with your C selection. This means that you won't be making use of the loophole during this round. If your VC scores well and you can use the loophole, proceed to Step 3.

Step 3. Identify a non-active player from a team which has not yet commenced their timeslot.
Step 4. Move the non-active player identified in Step 3 onto the field and make them your C.
Step 5. Remember to select an emergency on the same line as your now non-active C.

When your non-active player's team finishes their match for the round, your C score will be registered as a zero and your VC score will be doubled.

All of the above assumes of course that you have access to your team selection across the weekend, to make changes to the onfield set up as required.

It is also possible to use the loophole on one or more of your emergencies each round, in addition to the VC loophole.

Good luck and happy loopholing!