The News Limited competitions have opened, giving us our first official glimpse at the fantasy year.
At about three o’clock this morning, VirtualSports turned on the servers for the Super Coach competition for 2009. As the most popular competition in the country last year, after the problems that the AFL Dream Team comp had with its late start and inferior prize pool, the headline news is good: prizemoney is up this year. With the TAC as new sponsor, the winner takes away $55,000 cash - no doubt as a tie-in to a driving campaign to get people slowing down to 55kmh on the roads! The interface is much improved, with some AJAX functionality for team functions like trading, setting captains and choosing emergencies that should come in handy during the 160 minutes of maelstrom by cutting down on server stress.
Never mind the bells and whistles though, what fantasy coaches are really focused on now is what has changed in the game, what the prices are, and what the player positions are. The answer to the first is pretty simple: nothing has changed. Same scoring system, same positions, same rules.
On the prices, the magic number is about the same, which makes sense seeing as the salary cap is constant at $10 million. Here is the list of player discounts I have been able to discern at first glance:
Tim Schmidt: $395,500, 30%
Nathan Krakouer: $217,800, 20%
Josh P. Kennedy: $217,800, 20%
Daniel Connors: $254,000, 20%
Andrew Raines: $279,900, 20%
Shannon Cox: $372,500, 20%
Kane Tenace: $198,100, 20%
Adam Campbell: $269,600, 20%
Patrick Veszpremi: $286,400, 20%
David Johnson: $189,500, 20%
Jesse W. Smith: $314,400, 20%
Marlon Motlop: $236,900, 20%
Alwyn Davey: $344,600, 20%
Ben McGlynn: $228,300, 20%
Josh Head: $261,300, 20%
Ryan Houlihan: $298,900, 20%
Pearce Hanley: $196,000, 20%
Ryan Brabazon: $175,000, 15%
Andy Otten: $134,600, 10%
Of the players who missed a year for whatever reason, Paul Hasleby, Ben Cousins and Hayden Skipworth are the only ones not to be basement draftee or rookie price. Hasleby got about a 25% discount on his 2007 numbers, Cousins got 10% off and Skipworth got zero discount. That means that the following players are at minimum price despite playing in 2007:
Draftees at $94,200: Matthew Egan, Matthew Laidlaw, Brad Dick, Mitchell Brown, Mitch Thorp, Leigh Adams, Scott Gumbleton, John Meesen, Beau Dowler, Malcolm Lynch, Angus Graham
Rookies at $83,400: Chris Schmidt, Daniel Dzufer, Danny Meyer, Brad Howard
On the player positions, here are the highlights that we didn’t already know about, or had guessed wrong on the Fanplanner:
• Jason Davenport is NOT a back, despite being listed as such in the Prospectus (as I was told). The same goes for Jack Ziebell, who is a FWD/CTR.
• Adam Goodes is not a forward.
• Amon Buchanan, Brent Staker and Shannon Byrnes have forward eligibility.
• Xavier Clarke, Ryan Cook, Clint Bartram, Ed Barlow and Paul Stewart all have back eligibility.
• Shannon Cox and Ben Ross are FWD/BACs.
Now, there is no guarantee that all of these changes will also hold for AFL Dream Team. Nevertheless, the vast majority of Super Coach discounts carry over to DT, and all of the positions do.
Overall, VirtualSports have been much stingier with the discounts, but have been kind to us with some relaxation on positional requirements for key players. The starkest difference in my opinion is those players who missed a year, like Gumbleton, Dick, Thorp, Brown and Dowler, all being draftee price. If you don’t get some of that action I think you’re missing out, because it’s the best discounting on offer in 2009.
What’s your reaction? Nice interface, does that matter to you? Are you annoyed that your pet player didn’t get a random discount according to VirtualSports’ mystical black-box approach? Would you like to send them a strongly-worded letter arguing the toss over a positional change or two? Are you going to spend as much time on SC as you do on DT this year, given that SC got more registrations last year? Let me know in the comments.
So annoyed about davenport, but them the breaks I guess…
Always been a DT’er (scoring is much easier to follow and i feel SC is a little more reliant on the people taking the stats to determine what is effective or not). I will do a SC team, but only using the same principles i have in DT (and similar players).
Also, Alwyn Davey doesn’t have as big of a dicount as we thought which really hurts my team.
Had to get rid of Lynch and replace him with Veszpremi…
Why did my team just go to -$248k since last night?
YELP!
Good to see it up and running so early this year! I didn’t pay much attention to SuperCoach last year, but have been doing my homework so far this time around, thanks to the FanFooty Fanplanner
How is Sean Rusling $231,000?
Prestigiacomo at $250, 000!
Bargain!!!
Woo Hoo! Happy days are here again!!!
Wish Davenport was a back though!!!
Marty Clarke backman :D:D:D
get on him
HOULIHAN A DEFENDER!
yeah i think i got the same problem as u adam- all of a sudden i just lost about 100K and now some error??? might delete my account and start again…this happening to anyone else
Yep my team was $200K over this morning as well.
Back to the drawing board.
Does anyone think i will get stung by not including any of, Lucas, Coghlan, Hasleby or Headland in my side?
I dont want to suffer like i did last year for not including Stevens or Bradshaw.
I have also taken Priddis over J. Selwood is this a good move.
I have Bartell in the side already but the whisper is that he will not get the same mid field rotations this year and Selwood’s TOG will increase significantly.
In that case i could down grade Bartell to Selwood and use the spare cash elsewhere.
Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
My -248k was from Rusling, Ben Ross and Petterd and a few others going way up so I tossed the lot.
I’ve chucked Houlihan in the back, Ziebell in the front and read up on Shaun Higgins. All is now right again with the world.
For those with a web server background do you think that the changes they have made will have any difference on the 160 minutes of madness? With respect to last season do you think they even stress test the load they get at that time?
It will definitely make a change in the load, however with Supercoach popularity who knows if it will be enough?
When you go into “trade mode”, you can add and remove players from all positions without refreshing the screen so as whereas before every single trade would take two refreshes, you can now do a dozen trades and it only send the info back to the server when you hit “save my team”
BTW in answer to Monty I spend more time on supercoach because the guys at work decided they like it better than DT, to my dismay. Before it was easier just picking guys who tackle lots or mark, kick, goal = x points but NOOOO! Now I have to know about clearances and effectiveness and all this crap grrrr…. however it was quite funny when my boss had Ben Reid starting and he got a -4 LOL!
Rookie backs? There is none besides suban. Grrrr.
YTF is Shaun McKernan a back?????
Hey james at 1:35, look at Gallman, Petrenko and Kite from Adelaide. They could all line up at round 1 but sadly are fighting for similiar spots.
Thanks James ill have to wait for nab cup form.
because herald sun opened supercoach early does that put pressure on afl dreamteam to open theres some time today? doubt anyone would know that answer…but still
I was stupid to put a player listed as F/B in the forwards to begin with. I’m certain an extra established player in the forwards will sound it up, but I’m not sure about anyone at rookie 115,300.
Yeah james just see which of the trio get the call-up in the NAB Cup as this will probably be an indicator as to who will start. Also going to be looking at how Petterd goes in the NAB and I may just start him. I’ll see how it goes.
Houli is a back… That could be helpfull.
Dream Team will open up pretty soon, sam. Have just a little more patience.
Any idea when the NAB Cup/Dream Team version of the AFL Record will hit news-stands?
SC Overall prize is now $50,000!
The Perth Now comp that ran independently from the Herald Sun last year has been merged. I would imagine the same goes for SA.
No more double dipping for us in the west this year - Damn!
should be this week with the NAB Cup starting on Saturday
AFL Record should be out this week I meant to say…
Get on Oakleigh-Nicols for Brownlow….Odds on….
Lol at Tim Schmidt’s price!
I’m 100% a DT guy but I’m making an SC team still, the interface does look pretty good - hope the DT one’s similar.
Look out for my Half Back Wankers this year!
Richo is a mid, thats a big change
Anybody having the following problems??
Picked my full team and when I remove a player from the midfield I lose all my rucks & forwards. I then pick them again and suddenly one of my mids (Sidebottom) is in the ruck!!!!
yeah had a simalar problem heater…i ended up ditching that account and starting a new one…no computer wiz but might just be an error cos so many ppl are making a side at the same time?
who are the best rookies!!!!
its so hard to make a good tem
just made my sc team up on herald sun, pretty good side actually, seems abit easy…
Too easy. I got 900,000 spare anyone want it?
i played SC last year and still dont no how the points work
could some1 list all them if possible
Adding a premium price to players taken in the Pre Season Draft is a bit rude IMO.
Rockliff @ $119 is rough given he is an 18 ish y.o. who was overlooked in the initial Draft.
Can you explain this at all Monty, I think it is the 1st year this has happened.
Does this perhaps explain why Cousins and Skipworth are priced higher than first thought.
Good question Jared.
The super coach website lists i think 20 ways that your player can score points or lose points for that matter.
However, there are over 50 stats that supercoach use to determine final player rankings.
I would also like to see the entire list of stats that are used to score in this competition so if anyone can point us in the right direction where we can see all 50 of these stats it would be much appreciated.
Just FYI, The West Australian and Mark Harvey have climbed right into bed with Stephen Hill after Fremantle’s intra-club match. Harvey said: “Make no mistake, he’ll play in two weeks time against Richmond. He’s an exciting prospect.”
More interestingly he said: “He’s still got to develop in his body and you don’t want to play them too early when physically they’re not there. But this kid seems to be able to get around that.”
I’m just a Freo supporter hoping to get our picks worth from our #3 as quickly as possible, so there’s a heavy bias, but I would like to see him come off the bench for a blinder during the NAB cup, potentially force his way into the team, however slim the chances.
ShrewDext good pick up on the extra $ for the pre-season picks, I noticed some of the higher rookie draft picks are a little higher too, sometimes higher than a basement draft pick. I don’t see why there was a need to do that sort of thing, the normal draft there’s definitely some facts behind that decision at least.
ShrewDext I initially assumed that Rockliff’s price was an error but it looks like if you are taken high in the PSD you are slugged with a higher price (Jurrah is $144k). Why should being taken in the PSD after being overlooked in the national draft make you more expensive than the other first year players? Very strange.
The one error that I did note was that Murray who is a rookie is listed at 94k rather than the rookie price.
do you have to fill all 30 spots before the team can be saved? i’m getting a few gremlins cropping up on the interface. any other problems being experienced?
Apparently it hasn’t officially been released so possibly still a bit buggy. Esp. since its using a lot of fancy AJAX and seems quite different in IE and FireFox. But you should be able to save at anytime
Ricky Henderson (ADE) never played even an SANFL game before - taken late in the rookie draft - somehow 90k
Why is John meeson worth nothing in dt????
DT is OPEN!!!!!
..and Alwyn Davey is a fair bit more expensive than we though he’d be.
IT’S OPEEEEN!!!!
OPEN!!!!!
AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!! IT’S OPEN!!!!!
The top heading thingy looks shit. I’m sick of Dale Thomas being on everything, he hasn’t done shower to put himself in that superstar category yet.
Is a Hilux as good as an Aurion?
Anyone been looking at Beames from Collingwood, Hes been killin them in the pre-season, Rich from bris, Zeibell NM.
Catch up Wormburner.
Have registered and loaded my (preliminary) SC and DT teams, after designing them on Fanplanner first. Both websites have very similar functionaility. DT team selection much quicker and easier than last year. Now I have 50 days to chop and change, umpteen times over. Have loaded up with draftees a-plenty - Rich, Hill, Yarran, Ziebell, Hill, Beams, Sidebottom, Vickery, Gallman.
Hey monty the sites a massive help.
Can anyone list names of players who are in the same sort of mould of Bradshaw and Nick Stevens from last year?
Cheers
hasleby and reilly would be 2 i would say mitch. plenty more
Stevens=Hasleby
Bradshaw=Lucas
But I don’t expect either to bounce back quite as well.
im surprised Monty hasn’t put anything up about dt yet
when monty takes this long, u know the next post is gonna be good.
Albert Proud = GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Is m0nty alive???
He’s usually 24hrs before me.
How to make a good team (In my opinion)
You have got to look at players who were almost there in 2008 but didnt hold to expectation and 2009 could be the year for these players such as Andrew Walker ($436,800), Justin Sherman ($350,200) and Justin Koschitzke (422,220)
Then look at the players who are bound to get alot of game time and can easily put on 60-80 points a game Shannon Hurn ($286,200), Shaun Higgins ($223,400) Amon Buchannon (417,500) and Scott Selewood (359,200)
Also get players that you know will play good but didnt last year because of injury or suspension thus making his price drop alot Nick Malceski ($355,900), Kane Cornes ($505,100), Chad Cornes ($482,000) Roger Hayden ($417,200)
Also expect a good season by Scott Stevens ($402,300) and Ashley Hansen ($277,900)
Now think of some rookies that were picked up in the 2008 draft or the 2007 draft and is still cheap Jarred Grant (94,200), Beau Muston ($94,200) Daniel Rich ($144,200), Stephen Hill ($164,200), Robbie Tarrant ($94,200)
Now try and keep away from Ben Rutten ($406,300), Leo Barry ($385,500) and Alipate Carlile ($338,200)
Then if you want take a gamble with Simon Buckley ($362,600), David Mundy ($406,000), Brett Jones ($431,500), Quinten Lynch ($457,100), David Hale ($439,100), Warren Tredra ($435,100), Shaun Burgoyne ($555,600) and Travis Boak ($454,100)
I would think that Naitanui will find trouble in getting a spot in the ruck with Dean Cox and Mark Seaby thier best ruckman i would alos not get Jimmy Bartel as i dont think he can adapt to a good tagger as Gary Ablett and Joel Selwood can Daniel Jackson is a tricky one as he will score 100s and low 50s during the season and Matt Rosa will play all of the games next year for eagles and should score very highely
Good luck picking your super team and i wish you all the best for the 2009 season
GO THE DOGGIES
This is fantastic, both DT and SC available now! I think they both deserve a big pat on the back.
Like the shield design in DT, nice touch.
And now I understand why no recent blog from Monty.
Josh, are you trying to fool everyone into getting dodgy teams?
I was thinking the ame thing XztatiK!
Thats a shonky post Josh, dont agree with alot of it.
Josh,
dont have bartel, u serious he has been the most consistent player the last few years!!
Don’t have Bartel to start with ‘cos he costs too much. Wait til he drops in price then grab him.
There’s no right or wrong at this stage guys, don’t rule out Josh’s advice just yet!
“Kane Cornes ($505,100)”
That’s wrong! He was never injured or suspended last year.
Andrew Welsh will not be playing Round 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 for that matter.
He has just broken his ankle very bad at the Bombers scratch match this morning.
Bombers cant take a trick!
@Josh
I am not even considering 18 of the players you mentioned…
wtf
ok Brendan ..how about you post the 18 you think are better.
Guys if you really think about you cant really think that the guys i put down are going to be good or bad until the season starts. I am just giving you some more guys to choose from than the Gary Abletts or the Lance Franklins.
I reckon Sherman might be one to look at. What do you think of Simon Buckley from Melb?
Simon Buckley will get his opportunity this year as part of Melbournes best 22 and i think he could average anywhere from 50-70
Franklin or Didak? Franklin recovering from injury, Didak getting over his inner-demons. Very similar prices and averages. Tough call….
No, please, Josh is right. Everyone get the players he recommended
…hehehehe.
@Peter
Just because I am not considering them doesn’t mean I think they are shit. I’m not gonna post 18 I think are better.
Except for Shannon Hurn (not a big enough possesion winner) and Warren Treadrea (slower than … something slow). Also I don’t see the point of choosing Scott Selwood at his price. You’re better off choosing a first-year player or someone else at basement price. If you’re paying that much for someone you really need them to be guaranteed a game and I don’t think Scott Selwood is.
Also Andrew Walker is too injury prone and he’s injured at the moment for a while isn’t he? I don’t think Justin Koschitzke has the ability to step up to say a 90 scorer and he has a bad injury record. I think McIntosh has much more potential (maybe not to be a 90 scorer, but to increase in price). I had Sherman in his breakout year and then got him the next year and then he burned me. Unless he proves to show anything near what he averaged in 2006 in the NAB Cup I am not considering him. I’d prefer to take a risk on Hasleby, Reilly, Stenglein or Coughlan (only one of these in my team though at this stage).
Buchanan … Several better value players than him … Such as Higgins, who I am liking.
Roger Hayden plays for Fremantle and is not Pavlich … enough said. Scott Stevens had his best year ever last year, I wouldn’t expect him to get better and wouldn’t be suprised if he drops off a bit. He hasn’t cemented his spot either. Ditto for Hansen and he is very injury prone.
Jarred Grant is a young tall forward, no value in him. Beau Muston has done his knee like twice in three years so I’ve given up on him. Early reports Only reason I’m not considering Tarrant is because I don’t know enough about him. Also he is a young key forward unlikely to get big numbers and he plays for North Melbourne.
Brett Jones doesn’t get enough of the ball and there are so many more better defensive options. Quentin Lynch wears a glove and it shows how shit the Eagles midfield has become when they are considering him there. I’d prefer someone else at his price. He may be one to bite me in the arse this season though, but I still am not going to pick him from the start.
Hale, no, maybe if he was still available as a ruckman. Shaun Burgoyne doesn’t get enough of the ball and he plays for Port, I don’t want too many of them if I get both the Cornes brothers. Daniel Jackson is a friggin tagger.
There that’s 18. But I reccommend you all get them.
I can’t seem to find any cheap defenders in my backline
Currently i have Stephen Hill Alex Rance Michael Hurley and Zac Dawson are there any better guys available?
The player discounts for Dream Team are bit slow in coming? Any ETA Monty?
coughlan (rich) ray(st.k) hazelby(freo)higgins(foots)and maguire(st.k) are all worth a look.y are rookies over 100 grand ? hmmmm.sam fisher (st.k) is a must have along with deledio(rich)
Mitch, come on man. Get two of them, tops.
They’re the same for DT as for SC pretty much, Rodger.
The only reason i play dream team is for a chance to win the prizes. Supecoach is heaps better. You have to actually pick good footballers rather than guys who get the footy and give it to the opposition. Just for the record C.Corns is the best value going in supercoach. IMO!
Interesting Blog.
I randomly typed in:
aflsupercoach.com
because i thought it was the herald sun site - found a pretty in depth and cool looking SC blog there too.
Woo - its back!
Some interesting gear on here, half of it ain’t worth reading but there are a few tips.
What i’m concerned about is the good word one blokes like Davey, Lucus, Maguire how are they holding up will they play round 1??
Some of the rookies Rich, Swift are proably shoe ins in their respective teams for spots but what Tyler good prospect but gees with Adcock, Mcdonald and drumond in the back half will find it tough.
Beams Sidebottom both won’t play Mick won’t allow it, not round 1 anyway.
Any of this what yu guys are thinking ????
Ohh and the worst thing i read… Hasleby(or unreliable as i like to say) injuried by the 3rd term round 1
i have 321 k left and i need 1 more midfielder i’m thinking of someone along the lines of luke ablett or kieren jack… wat you guys think.
Frank Luke Ablett is a good pick but also look at Shane Edwards from reports i have heard he has had a great pre season as a midfielder but good luck in picking your team
Also i am looking at several other players who i am not sure about Josh Gibson, Jesse Smith, Travis Cloke, Mitch Hahn, Hamish McIntosh and should i have Nick Riewoldt, Matthew Pavlich or Lance Franklin
Lance can hit and miss, Pav can’t travel well, but the Roo will be solid week in week out!
Thanks also i am having some trouble should i go with Lance Franklin or get Jarred Brennan or Steve Johnson or Brendan Fevola and save up some money on someone else
Tim ,franklin slow starter with injury brennan a little inconsistant fev 50/50 can be hot or very cold.I would lean towards johnson consistant and in a very good side
What do people think for cheap backmen, trying to decide between Grimes, Suban, Hill or at a pinch Petrenko
I have a pretty good set up but my ruck division is letting me down in my ruck i have Mark Blake, Matthew Leunberger, Jordyn Roughead and Jake Spencer what i am asking is should i get rid of Leunberger and bring in Jesse White or should i get rid of Mark Blake to bring him in a keep a young ruck divison and save up some extra cash
[...] decided to expand eligibility for their dicsounting system up from the 30 or so that they included last year up to well over 120 players in 2010. The Dream Team magic number has dropped to 4396 or so, [...]