First comment!

lol. I will get into the EDT next year

Surely a Number 1 Ranking would do it yeh? haha.

Yeah.. tell me about it m0nty!! You should hear some of the flack I get from the boys… but I just say… everything we mention has probably been elsewhere (FF, BF, etc)… there is so much out there now!! Namely the Champion Data email… that had so many names I had ‘followed’ and decided upon… and now, holy hat!! Every Tom, Dick and Harry will have these guys!!

Agreed Warnie, although it has made me think about getting Morton.

I always thought that the this ‘Elite Dream Teamer’ or EDT as they say was referring to Nathan Bock. Are you now trying to tell me he’s not elite?

what gets u into that league??

It’s a tough one Monty. On one hand you’re a coach in the EDT League which is fair enough, but on the other hand you’ve been doing a great job hosting this site (and others) as well as the Coaches Box Podcast.

I value the podcast as well as this site, but if tidbits of information are going to be kept “secret” because of the whole EDT thing - do you think the blog and/or podcast will suffer?

“Some things will have to remain secret.”

Jeez what a wankfest.
It’s AFL ffs, not bloody horseracing or the stockmarket where information from “in the know” is helpful.

We can all watch the NAB games, club training sessions, and read as much media as possible. It’s there for all to see and we’ll all pick a dreamteam side we like and we’ll all have different players.

I hope the quality won’t suffer, Luke. You can be the judge of that.

I agree that its a bit of a wankfest. If u really were so sure of a player who no one else knew about u wouldnt even tell each other!

A little bit of competition never hurt anyone… i find this site great because i LOVE afl. But if those in the EDT think its going to have an affect on their precious comp, that just says to me they are scared… Surely the more comptetitive the competition, the greater the rewards in terms of proving yourself-that you are in fact elite?

There are no secrets about it.

Unless there is an alien player about to come to earth and he has 3 arms, 4 legs, and is 6′8″ and runs like Ben Johnson on drugs.

Anyone who puts in a bit of effort is going to know all the players and their form etc anyway monty. Are u saying that u EDT’ers have secret players that no one has discussed that u are sure will have a breakout year? Of course u effing don’t, U can do your research but u can only do so much then u need a hell of a lot of luck.

Hilarious – Ricketts, smashing the nail on the head.

So it’s an open blog to provide tips and allow talk of new players to/not to buy, however it is somehow nessesary to keep a few in reserve so there is an edge/element of secrecy from a nationally televised competition maintained…..hilarious

pezza: yes, there are quite a considerable number of players with little to no buzz in the wider scene who are being scrutinised fairly heavily in the EDT forum.

hawker and Ricketts: my point is that the EDT boys still have some secrets, and I’m not going to give them up. Not until the season starts and their teams become public knowledge, anyway.

Monty: there are no secrets, there are obviously some good mid/high-mid price players who have every chance to make the next step and become elite. However in terms of very cheap players I don’t agree that there is one that hasn’t attracted much interest at all from the masses yet has been under strong consideration from EDT’s. I would like to put forward one name down back which i think could be more than handy but hasnt received much press and thats Rick Ladson, whats everyone think?

I am sure no-one would want to win purely as you have access to more information. I agree with that. But that actually means we should all share so the playing field is even, not skulk in a corner scared to lose!

Coaches still have to pick teams and make trades. Copying others will be your undoing at the upper levels as other people’s moves may not fit your team. You will do OK, but not great.

I’d like to see people get less percisous about sharing - how old are we already?!?!?

sorry, in my rant I mis-spelt “precious”, it feels nice writing it again

on re-reading my blog it is a bit “strong”. It was meant as a joke, sorry if I caused offense.

the emotion is from people in my league asking me to share and then freezing up / shady stuff behind the scenes. We came 42nd as a league last year but were carrying a few first time coaches.

If someone does 10 times the amount of research that you do, why should they give you their research results? What have you done to earn it?

Competition is all about trying to create a playing field which is uneven and in favour of your own team…

I don’t see the Eagles faxing their game plan to the Demons before the match to keep the playing field level!

If EDT tell you who their smokies are, then how can they prove they are better than you?

Yeah

I agree with that Dan, you make a good arguement

I actually don’t want to know to that level of detail. And who is to say they would be right anyway - injury, changes in players goes right down to a level beyond knowlegable risk taking.

There are wins and losses on both sides of the fence. I always lean towards transparency in life, maybe better stat’s is the way to go - and people’s football nouse is the differentiator.

e.g. Maybe the effort people go to watch NAB challenge matches should be rewarded.

But something feels wrong in me if I hide information. If people ask me about a player I will tell them straight up. I can’t help it.

That could as bad as tipping me own team each week (which I don’t do)

I did have a thought though, why are we talking on the internet (the best tool for sharing information in the world) on a forum (medium that share’s information that official sites don’t) if we don’t talk about smokies?

I guess you can talk about strategy, balance etc. Monty has lead on the front foot with his top 10 tips and balance of teams.

Most of my mates are anti forums, and until this year I have never posted or been involved. If there is no information on this site I can’t get from AFL online pages - why should I visit?

Freosteve, i agree with you. What people do with information and their ability to interpret it is completely different to whether people have ACCESS to the information. I use fanfooty as a part of my research, to discuss players, learn information i may not have heard etc and then ill go and choose my own team which i think will win etc etc etc Giving away a personal ’smokie’ is one thing, not telling people about players being discussed in football circles which i will NEVER be a part of because i don’t work in that area or know people in that area–is completely different. It is not actually about keeping a level playing field at all-but then again, im not Mike Sheehan so why would i know what he knows? and if this website can give me some help in that area, what is wrong with that? does it mean ill beat mike sheehan>? Absolutely not–but i might if i have any talent for the fantasy comps at all. I spend a lot of time working on this, because i find it a lot of fun, and trust me, i have emailed clubs and tried to get help from places re: players where i just get doors slammed in my face. And rightly so, because they wouldnt know me from a bar of soap–so thankyou MONTY and co, for putting this site together as it is a valuable asset to us GRASS roots fantasy players who don’t have the same luxuries that other players have. At the end of the day-who cares? I just have fun managing a team and thinking “maybe this week ill win a thousand dollars.”

Very well said, Rod. Thanks for that, I almost teared up reading it! Makes an old man proud.
And freosteve, I hope that I still talk enough about players that you can take a few “smokies” from in amongst all the names.

Haha

You do mate, and it could all change next week anyway! e.g. Sinclair out, impact on young roos that may have been a contentious selection until now…

See, there’s a smokie right there. And I am not talking about Hansen although he is sure to tip the scales to as a favourite selection now.

My pleasure Monty… And for the record… Go Hawks!

Get with it Monty and co with ur apparent secret players hahaha what a joke. If thats the case where did you guys come last yr? I’m assuming somebody from your top flite EDT league won the whole thing? I would be willing to bet nobody from your league did. You guys dont have anything more than the diehard footy fan down the road who loves dt does.

Just cause ur league wins doesnt mean anything more than what I know. It just means ur all fans of the dt format, other leagues have better teams than you guys would have but thei leagues have poor or teams that the coaches just stop doing once they struggle during the yr etc.

I’m a first time player this year.. This blog has given me an insight into strategy for sure.. Had to research as the league I was invited into is super competitive.
Freosteve, surely you mean Scott Thompson at Kanagaroos? - the boy has done enough to earn a start