One of the many things missing on the AFL web site is a constantly updated list of which AFL players have demerit points hanging over their heads from previous trips to the tribunal. This may be a finicky little job to do, but it’s worthwhile for fantasy coaches to keep in mind. (more…)

2009 will be the first full year of the Premium Dream Team private league product from VirtualSports. Having launched halfway through 2008, Premium DT introduced many Australian fantasy footy fans to the private draft league concept for the first time. The FanFooty blog will carry much PDT-focused content in 2009, and we’ll kick things off with a “mock draft”. First, let’s do some number-crunching. (more…)

Of course Ben Cousins is getting all the headlines, and rightfully so with the Tigers jumping into the three-ring circus that Cousins’ life has been for years. However, fantasy coaches sifting through the 81 picks in the 2008 preseason and rookie drafts looking for value may end up taking more notice of other, less infamous players. (more…)

Tucked away among today’s announcements of a raft of changes to the AFL Laws of the Game was a little trial of a new type of position for Australian football: the substitute. While others can debate over rushed behinds and extra boundary umpires, fantasy coaches’ ears should be pricking up at this news that could have a significant impact on fantasy football in years to come. (more…)

Fantasy footy in Australia is its own little world. Yes, it borrows heavily from both the American and British versions of fantasy sports, but we’ve developed our own lingo down here. This blog is as good a place as any to compile a list of the jargon we use as Australian fantasy coaches. Note: this will be updated on an ongoing basis, from fan feedback in the comments. (more…)

Unfortunately I can’t give you full statistics from the Under 18 championships this year. VFL stats also seem to be thin on the ground. If anyone knows of a freely available source, I’d be much obliged. At least we have some numbers to go on with from the Fantasy Freako newsletter earlier this year. (more…)

Now we’ve gone through the WAFL and SANFL draftee statistics in the previous two posts, time for the main course: the Victorian kids. They’ve mostly been running around playing each other in the TAC Cup this year, and there is plenty of fantasy value to be mined out of this table! (more…)

In my last post I looked at the statistics from previous years from the WAFL competition, so it follows suit that the South Australian National Football League should also throw up some important numbers from this year’s draftee class. (more…)

One of the hidden tasks that hardcore fantasy coaches perform as an offseason ritual is to pore over statistics from prior seasons by newly drafted AFL players from back when they were playing in feeder competitions. Given the preponderance of players drafted from the Western Australian Football League to the AFL in recent drafts, it could be highly fruitful to sift through the numbers to look for next year’s bolters. (more…)

I missed out on doing this last time in October, so here’s a Super Coach version of the “structure” posts, where I group together the most popular players in each position according to their price to give you a rough outline of what a generic fantasy team looks like, in this case in the Herald-Sun Super Coach competition. Let’s paint the picture of the early December Fanplanner Super Coach squads. (more…)