Firstly, a massive welcome back to our readers from last season! For those checking us out for the first time, my name is Justin Civitillo and I won the Fox Sports Fantasy A-League competition in 2011/12. Throughout the A-League campaign I will provide my expert (ahem) analysis in order to help you take out the title this season.
Please note I will be covering only the Fox Sports version of Fantasy A-League. However, this season the FFA and Sportal are also running an A-League fantasy competition, so check that out if you are interested in doubling your chances to take out a fantasy title. They use a totally different structure to Fox Sports, though having played Sportal and FFA's earlier versions there is some knowledge that can be applied to both games.
Attention Newbies!
How to Win at Fantasy A-League
Team Selection Strategy
Fantasy FAQs
Schon’s interview with last season’s winner (and SuperCoach HQ reader) Benjamin de Geest provides some terrific insights also.
Rule Changes
1 point for each shot on target
1 point for every 2 shot assists
1 point for every 8 ball recoveries
1 point for every 8 blocks, interceptions and clearances
-1 point for an own goal
-1 point for a penalty conceded
While it’s great to see defensive players potentially rewarded with more points via ball recoveries and blocks/interceptions/clearances, I’m currently skeptical as to whether it will make gun defensive midfielders like Wellington's Albert Riera viable fantasy options. A quick look at some of these stats via the FourFourTwo Stats Zone app (which I highly recommend you download) tells me that you’ll likely only get an extra point or two per game from these players through the new rules. And on top of that, attacking players are also getting a boost with the points awarded for shots on target and shot assists.
Additionally, unused transfers will now ‘roll over’ – so if you decide not to make the 1 free transfer in a round, next round you will get two. Note though that there is a maximum of 1 rolled over transfer, so if you don’t use any the following round you won’t have 3 transfers the round after, only 2.
Last season the salary cap was quite restrictive, and when the game opened for this season it seemed like we would have another tough season in terms of finding value in our teams. After some player feedback the cap has been increased by $300k to $3 million, so hopefully this should make it much easier for us to field 11 regular starters in our squads. Three players (Romeo Castelen, Tom Doyle and Richard Vernes) have had their positions changed as well.
Looking Ahead
Before building your teams it’s important to consider that Round 1 falls inside a FIFA international date, so any players called up to the Socceroos, the All Whites or any other international team will be missing, and potentially for Round 2 also. This will be an issue again in Rounds 6, 22 and 23.
And if that wasn’t enough of a headache, the Young Socceroos (under 19s) are pariticpating in the AFC Championship from October 10th, ruling any players called up out for the first two rounds and potentially Round 3 also. To give a rough idea of which players may be affected, here’s the squad from a recent tournament the under 19s played in.
Oh, and then there’s the Asian Cup in January… Fortunately only 1 A-League round (Round 15) will be played during the tournament, somewhat reducing the impact on our teams. Of course, players may be missing from the round prior to (Round 14) and following (Round 16) the tournament as well.
Lastly, make sure you join the official SuperCoach HQ private league! The code is 56-67. We can proudly boast that last season our league was the top league in the entire competition so join up and help us to keep hold of our crown!
Thanks for checking us out! If you liked what you've read we'd greatly appreciated it if you told all your mates about us! You can use the share buttons below to post this piece on Facebook and Twitter. Make sure you follow SuperCoach HQ on Facebook and the dedicated Fantasy A-League account on Twitter too.
If you want to contact me directly to discuss Fantasy A-League, hit me up on my own Twitter account or use the comments section below. All the best for what will hopefully be a successful Fantasy A-League season!