Opinion 2024 AFL SuperCoach Planning Thread

[Seymour Skinner]

More Thursday footy is great, imo. AFL already can't work out how to not overlap games on a Sunday (sheer stupidity), so removing one of the Saturday doubles is great for people who want to actually watch games. Wish they'd do Monday or Sunday also to get rid of the other double game but baby steps...

Round 0 a real nightmare for rookies, wouldn't expect any of those sides to be throwing up many rookie options right now, that could be a huge factor depending on how they decide to implement it all.

I hate the Thursday games.
Pencil in 14 games for the year that I'll miss the first ¼ to ½ of the game, play footy myself so that's training & team selection night, then have to get back home, then don't really wanna stay up when I have work the next morning.
From country NSW so it's impossible to attend any of these games, which as a Tigers support has been very annoying over the last few years, imagine we won't be fronting up on Thursday night anywhere near as often next season tho.

 

[OnTopBar]

Right now there's too many 'what ifs' and hypotheticals to make a judgement on strategies, but just for arguments sake I'm assuming something like the following is likely IMO

Best 16 rnd 0 then unlimited trades until the final lockout game of rnd 1

2 teams on a bye in rnds 2, 3, 5 & 6, best 18 to count, going by last year then there'll be an extra trade available for those rnds. 4 trades extra is a fairly big assumption on my part but I can see it happening.

Of the 8 teams playing rnd 0 (I hate this BTW) I can see just the GCS as being relevant for rookie selections, if they have their bye in rnds 5-6 then those rookies should be ready for culling, which would be a game earlier than normal.

It's looking like rnd 1 will be the only 'pure' rnd until rnd 7 (and gather round), with 5 of those rnds being bye affected. Starting lineups for those 5 rnds will be critical in setting up the season. I'm thinking that 4 rookies on field would be the maximum number if you're wanting higher scoring to begin with. Takes rookie roulette out of the equation (mostly)

If there are more trades then that adds another layer of complexity.

 

[OnTopBar]

Given the AFL's propensity for themed rounds,

Gather round (it's all about hugs)
Round 0 (a media driven rivalry of Dimma v Tigers, Grund v Dees Urgh!)
Indigenous round (which I like)

I propose that the AFL lets everyone in with their own booze and we all get sideways

Call it the "Merry go Round"

 

[wogitalia]

I hate the Thursday games.
Pencil in 14 games for the year that I'll miss the first ¼ to ½ of the game, play footy myself so that's training & team selection night, then have to get back home, then don't really wanna stay up when I have work the next morning.
From country NSW so it's impossible to attend any of these games, which as a Tigers support has been very annoying over the last few years, imagine we won't be fronting up on Thursday night anywhere near as often next season tho.

Nothing will be ideal but surely if you play footy then Saturday is even worse and the fact another game is going at the same time makes it all but impossible to watch the game.

In degrees of bad, having a game that's impossible to watch for everyone is unequivocally worse than a game that's inconvenient for people in specific situations.

It's funny because as someone from WA the Thursday game actually starts too early so it's a difficult balancing act (applies to Friday games, especially while DLS is still in place as well) but I'd still prefer that to the double games on a Saturday that are impossible to navigate.

Solution for round 1A is going to be very interesting whatever they do.

Double game will really come down to how the byes are handled after it, it is either going to force massive overloading of those sides or avoidance of those sides. If you get best 18 then overload will be a core strategy because you will get extra premium scores without really paying the price in the byes. If they go best 22 then those players could cause serious harm in the byes and o***et the bonus scores in round 1.

Ultimately all speculation and no way to start planning until we get the answer, imagine that SC themselves already don't know the answer. Will also be interesting to see if any of the alternative comps pivot in other directions.

The real left field option would be for the round zero scores to be postponed into their bye rounds but I imagine the programming for that would be substantial and that it probably opens too many loopholes around trading them in/out and that kind of thing.

I do hope it creates some strategic decisions at least and would be great if it could break the monotonous cookie cutter starting sides apart, I'd support anything that does that.

 

[Amazing Bombers]

I'll probably relent and it does make things interesting but not sure about playing at this stage. I'll be interested to see how people approach this, hopefully it means that there's a good variety in teams regardless.

 

[TBG]

To avoid all these questions/issues why didn't the AFL just play a split round in round 1 or play all games (18 teams) in round 1 with these "zero round" games still being a highlight for the round???

 

[Eagling]

Yuk. Terrible for fantasy, which seems to be getting a 0% weight in any decision making!

And rightly so.

 

[Wheedus]

Thinking about it further, the other option is to treat Round 0 as a stand alone round. You pick a starting 22 plus emergencies on each line from the eight teams playing (within the $10 million salary cap). Scores based on best 22 with VC and C etc.

Once the round finishes, you get to delete your whole team and start again. Essentially, unlimited trades until final lockout on Rd 1 in the usual way. Best 18 for the subsequent rounds where the Round 0 teams have byes.

 

[Wheedus]

Thinking about it further, the other option is to treat Round 0 as a stand alone round. You pick a starting 22 plus emergencies on each line from the eight teams playing (within the $10 million salary cap). Scores based on best 22 with VC and C etc.

Once the round finishes, you get to delete your whole team and start again. Essentially, unlimited trades until final lockout on Rd 1 in the usual way. Best 18 for the subsequent rounds where the Round 0 teams have byes.

Sorry, slowpoke - just realised this was suggested above by @Beg2Differ

 

[Manikato1]

The issue doing this is how limited selections will be. You will want to capitalise on high quality players getting good scores. No time for stepping stone selections. Team below could be an example of the task at hand. Cannot be sure of all positions and prices are just from what I have seen as probable for next season. This team does not make the $10m budget even with $102k rookies in all emergency positions. On field rookies are limited as the teams that are playing all have established squads that are hard to break into and the highest draft pick available is Melb at spot 6.

 

[wogitalia]

To avoid all these questions/issues why didn't the AFL just play a split round in round 1 or play all games (18 teams) in round 1 with these "zero round" games still being a highlight for the round???

Because that would mean not having Carlton vs Richmond to start the season and that would be unacceptable because that's how AFL logic works, if this is round zero then that game is still the start of round 1 and the season...

AFL gonna AFL.

Every casual fan I've talked to doesn't understand it at all either, they all ask "so the games don't count?" and then when you try and explain they're like "so it's just round 1 then"...

 

[Wheedus]

View attachment 63946
The issue doing this is how limited selections will be. You will want to capitalise on high quality players getting good scores. No time for stepping stone selections. Team below could be an example of the task at hand. Cannot be sure of all positions and prices are just from what I have seen as probable for next season. This team does not make the $10m budget even with $102k rookies in all emergency positions. On field rookies are limited as the teams that are playing all have established squads that are hard to break into and the highest draft pick available is Melb at spot 6.

View attachment 63947

Like any first round, there'll be a whole bunch of people with very similar teams but the round winner will be the one who nails some speculative picks. It's kinda like daily fantasy. There would also be great scope for playing the emergency loopholes which would add a fun extra element.

 

[Wheedus]

As an aside, I've always thought it'd be great to have a comp where you load up a new full starting 22 each week (within the relevant salary cap) and your total team score accumulates over the whole season. Would take a hellava lot more time Kinda the opposite of lock and load

 

[Tamuhawk]

 

[Tamuhawk]

https://www.afl.com.au/fixture?Competition=1&Season=62&Round=956

 

[Tamuhawk]

BYE ROUNDS

OR: ADE, ESS, FRE, GEE, HAW, NM, PA, STK, WCE & WB
RD2: BRI & CAR
RD3: GC & GWS
RD5: COL & SYD
RD6: MEL & RIC

RD12: BRI, GWS, NM & SYD
RD13: FRE & PA
RD14: CARL, ESS, GEEL, GC, MEL & WCE
RD15: ADE, COL, HAW, RIC, STK & WB

 

[Rowsus]

You would think with the draw being put out this afternoon that the braintrust from Supercoach will be able to put their heads together to work out how they will run the season.

Thanks! I needed a good laugh!

 

[Wheedus]

I still have no idea why the AFL splits the first mid-season bye across two rounds - 4 teams in Rd 12 and 2 (this year Freo and Port) in Rd 13. There is no obvious rationale for it. I'd understand if they were still doing the overseas experiments but I can't see anything in Port of Freo's fixtures that would justify giving them a stand alone bye round.

 

[Miss_Brightside]

BYE ROUNDS

OR: ADE, ESS, FRE, GEE, HAW, NM, PA, STK, WCE & WB
RD2: BRI & CAR
RD3: GC & GWS
RD5: COL & SYD
RD6: MEL & RIC

RD12: BRI, GWS, NM & SYD
RD13: FRE & PA
RD14: CARL, ESS, GEEL, GC, MEL & WCE
RD15: ADE, COL, HAW, RIC, STK & WB

How is this going to work for Supercoach? Will there be a need for extra 'bye week' trades?

 

[Shaunpro1]

How they keep engagement with that fixture will be very interesting, probably the most over complicated season ever