Best Fantasy Draft Game

docker_champ29

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Hey guys,

I've lost a bit of interest in dream team these past few years so this year I was hoping to get a draft league going amongst mates with a few $$ on the line. In your opinion which website is the best for this and why? What are the best options?
 

Popedelio

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ultimate footy is my favourite
http://ultimate-footy.theage.com.au/

If you have played any american fantasy games, ultimate footy is the closest thing to it for AFL in terms of customization.

The free version lets you control and customize most things such has drafting, scoring (if you want category based or points like dream team), squad and league size and free agents.

there is a plus version which enables you to do a few more things but this costs something like $40, and the free version allows you to do the things you want anyway so you don't need to buy it, but it is useful if you have a competitive league.

http://ultimate-footy.theage.com.au/features

The link above has the comparison of the free vs plus. Clearly that is for 2014 so it may change for next season, for better or worst.

I reckon fantasy drafts are more fun and rewarding experience, compared to the salary cap games. You can hold a draft day and do it on a fantasy board and the banter is far more enjoyable when your players are tearing it up this season.
 

Hilton71

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Ultimate Footy is great. We formed a 'keeper league' in 2013 with 8 teams and added two more this year and will keep it as a 10 team league.

Can't comment on any other FF games as haven't played anything else to compare it with but agree with Popedelio that Ultimate Footy gives really good customisation options. I would recommend that you have someone who is pretty familiar with FF and committed to acting in the role of league commissioner of whatever to set-up and execute the customisation required. Each coach chucks in $60 for fun each year and have a few prizes for Premier, Highest team score and Top of the Table at seasons end and take the upgrade fee out the purse.

Would definitely recommend a 'keeper league' if you have a group of mates who are committed FF freaks as this adds another element in planning for the long-term and so on. Either way it is all I play now and can't recommend it highly enough.
 
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I play a few draft games. As a genuine footy fan they are far more rewarding to get into than Supercoach and Dreamteam games that are more like stockmarket games and not that realistic in terms of managing a real club list. I still play Supercoach but the most fun I have with are draft games. I don't bother with Supercoach or Dreamteam Draft versions as they only provide a website to house it but it is not run well by them. Prefer to play games designed and organized by ourselves. Ultimate footy I do not play simply due to the way it has fantasy scores is not appealing to me personally ( I find it a bit limiting) but it is run well according to those that are into it.

Docker champ if you are really keen there could be a vacancy in game I am playing when our draft starts in a few weeks time. Just do a follow up PM if you are genuinely interested but I will not to be providing a link to it on this forum.
 

Big_Luch

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Played AFL Fantasy Elite draft. As it was a new web host doing the site it was full of problems from the get go. It was almost like they had not tested the site once before releasing it and they were constantly releasing updates to fix problems on the site.

Think the league I play in will look to move to Ultimate Footy as we have heard good things.
 

docker_champ29

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Cheers Guys! Don't think I'll be doing a keeper league as I'm sure half of the members would drop out. Plus I think it'd be fun doing a new draft each year. Does anyone know if I'd still be able to customize the draft order?
 
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Cheers Guys! Don't think I'll be doing a keeper league as I'm sure half of the members would drop out. Plus I think it'd be fun doing a new draft each year. Does anyone know if I'd still be able to customize the draft order?
Yes in ultimate footy you can customise the draft order. Keeper leagues also have a draft every year. You can choose how many each squad keeps each year. If you have mates its quite fun. Just start a facebook group to hound eachother over potential trades throughout the year.
 

Popedelio

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Yes in ultimate footy you can customise the draft order. Keeper leagues also have a draft every year. You can choose how many each squad keeps each year. If you have mates its quite fun. Just start a facebook group to hound eachother over potential trades throughout the year.

mtooler answered it for me. but going back to your OP a keeper league isn't ideal for a league that has money on the line. I believe a new draft every season keeps the league fair and that every coach feels that they have the chance to win. FB group is great for banter and better then posting messages on UF since you know you will get replies and you can post videos etc.

An idea what I do with my league is to set up a day of some form of competition which will determine the draft order, so for example have a beer pong tournament (I'm still at uni) and the winner gets first pick, runner up gets 2nd pick and so on. Then have the draft day with hopefully again all coaches participating, this is possibly the funnest day of the season, here you can go over your league rules and the drafting commences, where again great banter ensues. Then throughout the season every 3rd weekend get all the coaches together at a house or pub to watch one of the games, as you can see its all about the banter hahaha.

The point of having these events is so that coaches come back for the following season, I remember when I started my league I had about 4 coaches that knew nothing about AFL, now they can't get enough about AFL and keen for the next fantasy season. We also have a trophy in which we idolize hahahaha so find something that will help your league stay together :)
 

docker_champ29

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mtooler answered it for me. but going back to your OP a keeper league isn't ideal for a league that has money on the line. I believe a new draft every season keeps the league fair and that every coach feels that they have the chance to win. FB group is great for banter and better then posting messages on UF since you know you will get replies and you can post videos etc.

An idea what I do with my league is to set up a day of some form of competition which will determine the draft order, so for example have a beer pong tournament (I'm still at uni) and the winner gets first pick, runner up gets 2nd pick and so on. Then have the draft day with hopefully again all coaches participating, this is possibly the funnest day of the season, here you can go over your league rules and the drafting commences, where again great banter ensues. Then throughout the season every 3rd weekend get all the coaches together at a house or pub to watch one of the games, as you can see its all about the banter hahaha.

The point of having these events is so that coaches come back for the following season, I remember when I started my league I had about 4 coaches that knew nothing about AFL, now they can't get enough about AFL and keen for the next fantasy season. We also have a trophy in which we idolize hahahaha so find something that will help your league stay together :)

How'd you go about doing the draft day by the way? Because 10 blokes and 10 computers doesn't sound like much of a party. Plus the chances are that a few won't be able to make it.
 
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mtooler answered it for me. but going back to your OP a keeper league isn't ideal for a league that has money on the line. I believe a new draft every season keeps the league fair and that every coach feels that they have the chance to win. FB group is great for banter and better then posting messages on UF since you know you will get replies and you can post videos etc.

An idea what I do with my league is to set up a day of some form of competition which will determine the draft order, so for example have a beer pong tournament (I'm still at uni) and the winner gets first pick, runner up gets 2nd pick and so on. Then have the draft day with hopefully again all coaches participating, this is possibly the funnest day of the season, here you can go over your league rules and the drafting commences, where again great banter ensues. Then throughout the season every 3rd weekend get all the coaches together at a house or pub to watch one of the games, as you can see its all about the banter hahaha.
I like the idea of having to 'earn' or 'win' your pick, but there's also something to be said for doing a reverse ladder order from the second season on, so you can have a link between seasons even without keepers, and guys who might not be so competitive can get a bit of a leg-up by grabbing a premium captain first thing. With a snake draft it doesn't unbalance things too much, and an appropriate shaming for last place helps discourage any tanking.

How'd you go about doing the draft day by the way? Because 10 blokes and 10 computers doesn't sound like much of a party. Plus the chances are that a few won't be able to make it.
Do it all on the one computer, even better if you can rustle up a projector or throw a board up on the wall and enter the picks in later. When it isn't your pick it's beer and BBQ, sledging whoever's up or just made a s**t choice, or trying to squeeze in some last minute research on the sly. Or, we did our first one in a pub beer garden, passing a little laptop around the table.

Anyone who can't make it has a few options - lodge a draft ranking on the site beforehand, delegate someone to pick for them, or with the VirtualSports platforms (unsure about UF) you can log into the Commissioner account from multiple locations, so as long as everyone behaves people can make their picks remotely.
 

Popedelio

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docker_champ29 fodzilla answered your question perfectly. And to answer for UF I'm pretty sure you can have multiple people log into the commissioners account or you can give them commissioner powers during the draft, because if your having the draft offline then only the commissioner can enter in the draft. Just wait till UF opens up this year so that you can familiarize yourself with all the settings etc, I think they are about a month away to reopening the site so follow there FB page to get updates
https://www.facebook.com/ultimatefooty
 

docker_champ29

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What do you guys think of the new AFL Fantasy Elite? Looks alright and it'd be handy having the draft and classic Dream Team in the one log in. Does Ultimate Footy have anything hat this doesn't?
 

Big_Luch

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What do you guys think of the new AFL Fantasy Elite? Looks alright and it'd be handy having the draft and classic Dream Team in the one log in. Does Ultimate Footy have anything hat this doesn't?
last year fantasy elite was riddled with site issues. The RFA order and bidding system seemed to always stuff up. Plus we had issues with people changing their teams before the lockout. You would think in the sites second year it should be much better.
From my understanding Ultimate is more customizable.
 

Popedelio

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Well UF will open up some time next week, there have been a couple of extra features added in such as stats that you can include in your own scoring system or if your into doing categories, so stats like spoils, contested possessions etc.
 

Popedelio

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Unfortunately we quite like SC scoring, otherwise we'd be all over UF. I just want a few obvious little additions, like being able to flag players as available for trade. Or, you know, for them to have not inexplicably removed it between 2013 and 2014.

I'm not sure if it will work, but you can edit match results in UF if you paid for league PLUS, meaning you could possibly edit the scores accordingly to SC at the end of each round. Though this will take some effort from the League Commissioner. Hopefully they do fix SC Draft to be more customizable and have features like UF, pity that you guys aren't into DT haha.
 
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Ultimate footy opens tomorrow :thumbsu:

With a new rule too...

"In 2015, an player who plays less than 20% Time on Ground, and scores less than the emergency on the bench, will be replaced by the emergency.
http://footyprophet.com/revolutionary-fantasy-football-change/
http://footyprophet.com/revolutionary-fantasy-football-change/
http://footyprophet.com/revolutionary-fantasy-football-change/
dont mind it personally, would be interesting if RDT/AF adopted something similar
 
Apr 1, 2008
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I'm not sure if it will work, but you can edit match results in UF if you paid for league PLUS, meaning you could possibly edit the scores accordingly to SC at the end of each round. Though this will take some effort from the League Commissioner.
As the League Commissioner I frown upon this.
 

yyou

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the best for me was fantasy footy net au, but that hasn't worked for a few years.
I generally like ultimate footy except for the draft which is done electronically & way too fast.
after that if you are in a league with people you don't know, they can either give up or they don't consider any trades, but that is not a problem with the site.
If ultimate footy had a draft spread out, I'd be seriously impressed.
 
Mar 23, 2008
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I generally like ultimate footy except for the draft which is done electronically & way too fast.
after that if you are in a league with people you don't know, they can either give up or they don't consider any trades, but that is not a problem with the site.
If ultimate footy had a draft spread out, I'd be seriously impressed.

Not sure what you mean by the draft being too fast; there are multiple draft options (autodraft, live draft with a time limit per pick, slow draft where each person is given up to 24 hours for a pick or a manual/physical draft that you enter the results in later) to choose from.
The key is finding a competitive league online or making a league with your mates. The public ones generally only have a handful of people taking it seriously per league with a lot of inactivity from the others.
 
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