DuFFLe Rules
v 2023
The Executive reserve the right to clarify and/or adjust the rules as deemed appropriate.
Draft
Each DuFFLe (DFFL) franchise owner will be assigned a random Draft order from 1 to X - where X is the number of franchises playing that season. In the first round of the Draft, the franchisees choose in the Draft order (1 to X). Then the last to pick (X) will choose again and the Draft proceeds in the reverse order to 1. This back and forth continues for all rounds of the Draft until each franchise has 16 players. Usually, for the final Draft rounds double picks are allocated. The draft is conducted via an online chat utility on an agreed night.
Trades and Substitutions
From the time the DFFL Draft is completed, each franchise can avail themselves of a maximum of three (3) extra draft picks, known as "Trades", but must also delist players to ensure that their squad stays at a size of 16. In the event of one of their players being declared out of action for 6 weeks or more, franchisees can select a substitute from the uncontracted players. This "Substitution" can occur at any time during the DFFL season up until the commencement of Round 19. If the player who was substituted out due to injury/suspension/deregistration returns to an AFL club's available-for-selection list, he can be re-selected via the normal Trade or Substitution rules.
Preseason Trades
From the time the Draft is completed until the DFFL deadline for team selection for Round 1, you may make two trades which do not count against your season limit of three (3).
Short-term Contracts for Rounds the BYE Rounds
Due to the spread of Byes over these Rounds, each DFFL franchise can select an additional four uncontracted players who can be played during these Rounds and only during these Rounds. At the end of of the BYE Rounds these players are automatically returned to the Uncontracted Players pool.
Trades and substitutions take priority
Trades and Substitutions will always take priority over a short-term contracted player. Any short-term contracted player can be removed from one DFFL club and added to the list of another DFFL club via a Trade or Substitution. The club losing the short-term contracted player can, of course, choose another player from the pool of uncontracted players.
Weekly Selection of teams
Each week, the DFFL club coach selects 12 players out of their 16 to compete. Those 12 players are broken up into 2 forwards, 3 midfielders, 2 backmen, 1 ruckman and 4 interchange players. If one of the main 8 players pulls out before the game on the weekend, the best interchange player will be chosen to take his place. If a player is hurt during the game, that is bad luck and the statistics he has collected will be counted. DFFL coaches are urged not to use the tactic of selecting players not named in the starting 22. You will be lambasted and pilloried by all if you do. If a player is named as an emergency, and you feel he is likely to play, state your case when submitting your team.
Protection of selected teams during the Bye Rounds
To ensure that a short-term contracted player cannot be poached from another DFFL franchise without the club coach knowing, some protection needs to be in place for selected teams. Consequently, once a team has been selected for the Bye Rounds, any short-term contracted player in that team cannot be taken as a Trade or Substitution for another DFFL squad until the conclusion of that Round, and no short-term contracted player can be picked as a Trade or Substitution within 48 hours of the first game of that Round. DFFL coaches are urged not to use the tactic of selecting all their short-term contracted players early in the week and then having a change of mind just prior to the submission deadline. Penalty likely to be ex-communication.
Non-selection of teams
If the DFFL coach doesn't submit a team by the deadline (which is usually 10 minutes before the official bounce-down time of the first game of the Round), the team chosen for the previous DFFL Round will be used.
However, purely at the discretion of the Executive, a team may be selected for the DFFL coach due to the coach's unexplained absence.
Scoring
Each team's total score is the accumulation of points attained by the eight players selected or the appropriate interchange player/s.
* Forwards - 4 points per goal, 1 point per behind
* Midfielders - 1 point per disposal
* Backmen - 2 point per mark, 1 point per tackle
* Ruckman - 1 point per mark, 0.5 points per hit-out
Appeals
The competition relies on the good will of all participants. Sure, there are creative ways to obtain an unfair competitive advantage, but we don't expect any DFFL coach to have such an immoral bent. If a franchise wishes to appeal against a team selection by a member of the opposition, this needs to be lodged before the final siren of the final AFL game of that Round. If you spot that an opposition coach has made a poor team selection, the best practice is to point out the oversight via the current thread early – as early as possible. If the opposition coach spots this before the thread is locked, they can correct their selection.
Given that an appeal is lodged in time, the Executive will do one of five things:
* Ignore it because there are way more important things to worry about.
* Dismiss the appeal as the infraction is viewed as an oversight and the offending franchise does not have a history of dodgy practices.
* Replace the invalid team selection/s with a player or players who can be legitimately selected as the infraction is viewed as an oversight and the offending franchise does not have a history of dodgy practices.
* Strip the points accrued by the invalid team selection – a likely outcome for the DFFL Finals.
* Award the game to the opposing team – a possible penalty in the DFFL Finals.
The DFFL ladder
The ladder follows the familiar win/draw/loss format, but instead of using the for/against percentage to delineate between teams on equal points, the DFFL uses an aggregate of your team's scores. This is considered to be a better measure of the Dockerland DFFL Player's selection ability.
If teams finish on equal win/loss/draw points and have the same aggregate scores, the aggregate
score against will be used to separate the teams. If teams cannot be separated via any point/scoring system, then a flip of a coin will be used.
Finals
The DFFL Home and Away season ends four weeks before the end of the AFL Home and Away. The final AFL Home and Away games are used for the DFFL Finals. The Finals follow the AFL format: Elimination, Qualifying, Preliminary and Grand Finals. In the event of a team finishing with the same score as their opponent (a draw), the team with the higher ladder position at the end of the DFFL Home and Away season will be deemed the victor.