That's not the draft order, Matty. It would be draft order if I was listed as having the first pick and Polly last.

Mrs Hg still hasn't forgiven you for those burn-outs on the manicured lawn, Polly.

Personally I think rucks should only get half a point for hitouts because it creates a massive difference between winning and losing in the DFFL.

For example, if your someone who gets one of the picks in the 1-5 section you're at least 10 points better per week than the people who get picks 12-16. Every year you can find up and coming players who stand up in the midfield to score in the 20s, but never any rucks.

Making hitouts worth .5 means the ruckmen aren't going to be the first picked all the time.

I wouldn't mind seeing a 'captain' system brought in, either.

Same as DT and SC where your nominated captain gets double points. I think it creates more interest and can make selecting teams more challenging.

Anyway, just my two cents.

Actually I quite like that concept, DMan. I think it's too late to introduce for 2010, as some of us have had multiple brainstorming meetings, strategic seminars and fantasy drafts to ensure that we beat the pants off the rest of you.

Of course, it only takes an injury to your key ruckmen to massively discount your weekly scores.

I don't see why it would be too late. The draft order hasn't even been released yet. If it were to be passed through now I'm sure it wouldn't affect anyone.

All I know is having been in the DFFL for a couple of seasons, you can tell the people down the draft have a very tough time competing. There are always exceptions, but more often than not the top eight will come from players who draw in the first 10 picks.

Sandilands might average 35 points per game while someone like Shane Mumford might average 25.

If not the ruck points change, then I would really like to see the captaincy thing come in (and don't allow it to be a ruck).

I had Sandi a couple of seasons back and didn't win... however, that was due more to massive rortingof the system by certain nameless OoslumbirdBlockerhall types than my magnificent tactical nous.

I would certainly be against any "captain thingo" where a particular pick can get you double points.

That would be loading up the first picks too much.

At the moment it is possible to win from anywhere in the pecking order.

Giving double points to some one who was lucky enough to get an early pick is not the way to go in my humble opinion.

The DFFL has been going along fine..let it keep going the same way.

When you look at the draft choices the winners have come from over the years, I reckon that it's working ok the way it is.

There won't be any rule or scoring changes this year, sorry.

Midfielders can get you consistent mid 20's, premium midfielders can get you mid to high 30's - 10 pts better off.

If you're lower in the draft order, then pick a premium midfielder instead, there are plenty of ruckmen that will get you in the 20's and about half a dozen that will get you in the 30's. You draft according to your draft position.

In fact, 16 often does well, as the draft order reverses for the second round (and then 4th rd, etc), so 16th gets two picks on their first go, which is an advantage, whilst 1st pick has to wait for 30 more picks before they get their second and third player.

I was 6th in the draft last year and chose Pavlich as my first choice, who was consistent in my forward line, so it was along way through the draft before I ended up with Brogan and Gardiner as my rucks, and they provided me with consistent scores in the 20's all year, and I made it to a preliminary final and had Oos not nobbled Jobe Watson I would have been in the grand final. I agree with Grant Thomas - rucks are overrated.

Captaincy thingo does reward the top 8 draft picks more so than the lower 8, so I dont like that idea, sorry.

I've already said that I think the idea is worthwhile, but let's set the rules for 2011 and not 2010. To put people on an even keel, let's look at some data...

Average scores from the top sixteen ruck men from 2009 DFFL:
36.6
34.2
31.9
27.9
27.8
26.7
25.2
25.1
25.0
24.9
23.8
22.6
22.2
20.9
20.7
20.3

Average scores from the top sixteen midfielders from 2009 DFFL:
33.7
31.1
29.5
28.0
27.9
27.5
27.4
27.3
27.1
27.0
26.9
26.7
26.6
26.6
26.6
26.5

Average scores from the top sixteen forwards from 2009 DFFL:
14.1
12.4
11.8
11.5
9.6
9.6
9.3
9.2
8.8
8.3
8.1
8.1
8.1
7.9
7.9
7.9

Average scores from the top sixteen back men from 2009 DFFL:
12.6
12.2
11.9
11.8
11.7
11.6
11.6
11.5
11.4
11.3
11.2
11.2
11.1
11.1
11.0
11.0


Don't assume that whoever gets the first pick selects the player with the highest stats. It just don't work that way! The smarts are in selecting the players who are likely to do well and it's frequently not those who scored best in the previous years.

Can I say that whoever had Sandilands over the past few years in their teams did not win the competition. In fact, when Mr Smiley had him, I don't think he even made the finals.

That's because Smiley was a spud ...

Okay I get all of your points but forgive me for trying to 'even' up the competition.

When will the draft positions be revealed out of interest?

Like I said, I'm due for a top three berth.

I was very tempted to join as I know I would whip you all...easily

However I am in a comp run by a friend and didn't think I could commit to both, so no-one will get the chance to disprove my theory. Shame that.

Our comp is extremely similar, the main difference being slight change in team composition:

2 x Forwards - 6 points per goal, 1 per behind
3 x Midfielders - 1 point per disposal
1 x Ruck - 1 point per hitout and mark
1 x Tackler - 6 points per tackle
1 x All-Rounder - get points in every category then divided by 2

Your comp seems to use defenders at a lower score whereas ours uses a Tackler which can be more important than a ruck, so if you miss out on one of the 3 main rucks, there's probably 6 main forwards plus a handful of prime tacklers and then the midfielders to choose from.

A downside to ours is pure defenders are useless other than than the sweeping backman who may collect 25-30 possessions, so talent pool is reduced

We had used 3 forwards for many years but as there were not enough consistent scoring forwards we swapped it for an all-rounder last year which gives a new dimension, though more homework required as these stats are not calculated for you.

Don't have the stats but would suggest each category is equally important.

Last year I finally got our comp to change our draft style to match yours, ie second round is reversed order of the first - the only fair way in my book

I like how in your comp you can pick up new players mid-season. We are stuck with our initial squad.

I hate Essendon and in the last few years my top Essendon player has been injured for most or all of the year. Lloyd/Lucas/Hille. I'm gonna try and pick Watson just to keep the trend going, you are fore-warned.

Good luck all

It would be interesting to get a breakdown of what number draft picks have actually won each year's DFFL comp.

How many number one picks have won?

I have never drawn inside number ten pick and last year, in which I drew with Hypen in the grand final, was about number thirteen.

As someone pointed out, it is handy to get first pick and grab a Sandy, but you don't get another go until number thirty two, and that evens things out a bit.