Dream Team 2011 from AFL

[ossie85]

http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/104325/default.aspx

THE INTRODUCTION of a bye into the AFL fixture, and its subsequent extension to 24 rounds, means a host of changes have been made to the Dream Team competition for 2011, although private leagues will again consist of 16 teams.

A team of designers, led by Peter Jankulovski, have been reshaping Dream Team, which next year celebrates its 10th anniversary.

Their biggest challenge has been making sure the fantasy competition remains fair in the five rounds when three AFL clubs have the bye.

To cope with this, the head-to-head matches in private leagues will begin in round one rather than round four, as has happened in the past.

This allows for head-to-head matches to be suspended when more than one AFL club has the weekend off.

Under the new system, private leagues will play 15 rounds, have five general byes, and play finals between rounds 21 and 24.

"But it is important to note that the overall competition will play out over the entire 24 rounds," Jankulovski told afl.com.au.

"Plus there might be a surprise or two."

Other confirmed innovations include an increase in squad sizes and the number of trades allowed.

"All sorts of options and feedback from fans have been considered, and the community has been incredibly vocal with some great suggestions," Jankulovski added.

"Some of the suggestions included more trades, different ways of trading, extended teams and varying line-ups and other special trading considerations."

KEY CHANGES TO DREAM TEAM FOR 2011
- Squad sizes increased from 30 players to 33. This allows for an extra defender, midfielder and forward on the bench. The larger squad is designed to help cover for when players are unavailable due to their club having the bye.

- Given the salary cap will rise only in accordance with the real one under which the AFL clubs operate, player prices will be lowered overall to reflect the need to fit 33 players under the cap rather than 30.

- An additional four trades made available for the season (taking total trades to 24), with the limit of two per round to remain.

- Head-to-head matches start in round one and are suspended during the five rounds when three AFL clubs have a bye.

- Stronger link between social media and Dream Team. Coaches can look forward to direct Facebook and Twitter integration. They will also be able to interact with their social networks and friends directly from the competition.

ROUND 1 start! Everyone panic!

[Fireballz]

 :o

Whhhaaaaattttttt?

This means I will actually have to pay attention to nab cup games!

[Justin Bieber]

Will mean everybody has to pick a great team from the get go with not much need for fix it trades early :o.

But with that amount of trades, guess we can all spare 2 for fix it :P.

[PowerMan]

Awesome, bloody awesome, nothing worse than having to wait 3 damn weeks to start the league games!

a good decision to have byes when more than 1 team has the bye, great stuff.

[ossie85]

Thought...

Will players who are playing in a bye week have their score counted when it comes to price movements? If so, can you trade during the bye weeks to take advantage of BE etc?

[Fletch74]

Absolutely brilliant, as Powerman said nothing worse than waiting to Round 4 to play H2H games.

Ossie, I think a player who plays in those bye weeks will have their scores count, that's going to be great for those rookie upgrades, especially as the byes will be in the middle of the season ;D

[CrowsFan]

I'm assuming it will be similar in SC next year?

[jimmytigs]

all good news for jimmytigs,will be interested to see where the 5,7 game rounds will be in the fixture,i hope rd 1 will be only thursday night game,that was a damn nightmare in rd 13 or 14 whatever it was this year.

[BigV]

A great move by VirtualSports by shifting the head-to-head games for round 1. ;D

[8-6 Suited]

Fletch, yes. It just means that the Head@Head matches wont happen in that week but the scores will still go on.

[Holz]

go for a high is going to be a trouble this year, i will have to go over the schedule really closely, for people attempting to win leagues will people steer clear of players not playing round 22.

[jimmytigs]

go for a high is going to be a trouble this year, i will have to go over the schedule really closely, for people attempting to win leagues will people steer clear of players not playing round 22.

Will be a few things to watch for,im sure you meant rd 24,but also 2 teams are going to have 2 byes in the 19 rounds that count,so avoiding players from those 2 clubs as well as the club who has the rd 24 bye will be somewhat important.On the + side,in the past ive tried to have maximum trades at rd 13.This year assuming some of the 5 no league play rounds will be after rd 13 i will get a few freebie trades early on.

[Holz]

if i was going for a league win and colloingwood had a bye round 24, i personally wouldnt have swan in my team instead go montagna or boyd as my number 1

[Barlow 21]

A great move by VirtualSports by shifting the head-to-head games for round 1. ;D

+! ;D

[Justin Bieber]

A great move by VirtualSports by shifting the head-to-head games for round 1. ;D

+! ;D

+! (Exclamation mark) x2 ;) :P.

It will be interesting if people will try to do well first two rounds or hang on until round 6 to make their moves in the league.