Quick little poll. Mid Season Trades and Draft to be held over a few days between two rounds (likely Sunday night through to Thursday night as the AFL seem to be sticking with Thursday games) so that there is no mix-up or confusion from round-to-round. We'll have to be very efficient if we chose this option. OR Mid Season Trades and Draft to be held over about 10 days, across a round of footy (so Sunday night through the following weekend and onto the next Thursday before lockout). This gives us nearly two weeks of trading and drafting, although going across a round of footy adds a complication. Might actually make this option trades in the first week and draft in the second week, so no players change teams part-way through a round of footy.
Would be nice if the AFL included a BYE round at the end of July or thereabouts. There has been some suggestion that may occur. Maybe wait until the next set of rounds (8 9 10) are announced and see if a BYE round appears. That would be the ideal time to stage both.
This looks pretty adamant from those coaches that have voted. Thankyou all. When the AFL announces the next set of rounds I'll make an announcement on the MS period. Note that it will most likely be between rounds 8 and 9, which will give us rounds 9-through-17 with our new players.
Right, so, Gil has done everything possible to make fantasy footy an absolute mess this year (yes, I blame him - there is no need that I can see for footy to be played every day of the week - and surely they've learned from the BBL that this kind of saturation alienates the fans!) Anyway.... We're going to need to be flexible and slick. So without having the fixture available yet, it looks like we're going to have something like this: Round seven - Thursday 16 July through to Monday 20 July. Round eight - Thursday 23 July through to Monday 27 July. Round nine - intended to start Wednesday 29 July. I want to make it clear that there will be no player movements during lockout. That's a complication that we just don't need. The current thought is: Open Mid Season Trades right now, Wednesday 15 July. Players can move as of this very minute until the start of the Cats-Pies game (Thursday 16th at 20:10 EST). Picks can continue to move during the round, and agreements can be made for player movements, but players themselves can't move until the end of the Crows-Saints game (Monday 20th at 19:40 EST). Continue the trades after the end of the Crows-Saints game (Monday 20th), now with the ability to trade players again. Open the Mid Season Draft at the conclusion of the Crows-Saints game (Monday 20th). This will need to be completed before the start of round 8, the Suns-Dogs game (Thursday 23rd at 19:40 EST). At this point there will be a cease in player movements. Round 8 will run from the Suns-Dogs game (Thursday 23rd at 19:40 EST) to the completion of the Freo-Cats game (Monday 27th). Trading of picks will be permitted, and agreements for player trades can be made. Final player movements will be permitted from the conclusion of the Freo-Cats game in Round 8 to the commencement of Round 9 (Wednesday 29th). At this point we will have our teams finalised for the remainder of whatever is the 2020 season. These teams will then become the starting point for the new rules with four player movements across a season, rather than the obligatory four PSD picks. To make this work we'll need to be very organised. I'm going to apologise in advance for having to be a "Nazi" with very little patience for time wasting and dodgy shenanigans, we just don't have the luxury this year. I'm open to comments and / or suggestions to see how we can make this work best.
"The jammed sequence will start on Wednesday, July 29, two days after the completion of round eight." Rd9 to start Wed. July 29th. from the AFL website
Uneven trades are also going to be an issue. I'm open to suggestion here. Maybe: Allow up to X number of extra players on a team list until the start of the MSD. Enforce a strict even-trades-only rule. Something else.
I'm 3 hrs behind AEST and generally have my 1st cuppa around 7am here (10amAEST) and virtually sit at my PC all day, so am willing to assist anyone who has availability issues.
Next issue is the "rolling byes" that each team are apparently going to be granted over the next few weeks. I guess because of what we did with the Dons-Dees game, we just have to use averages for effected players (although I still disagree with this).
I think this time is a little different and everyone has fair warning that we're going to lose some players at some time. We now have a trade period and draft to prepare for that, if we choose that path. It comes back to the ole risk v reward. So I propose that if/when we have players missing because of a rolling bye, they don't score if selected in your 15. It will also take away some of the administration nightmare that this ORFFU year has become.
We won't start the MSD immediately after the close of the Crows-Saints game. Give us a little bit of time to confirm scores and draft order, teams to make some final trades and / or delistments, etc.