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There are a minimum of 6 drafting rounds, with further rounds possible if average squad numbers are deemed too low.
Rule 3A - All rounds of the Initial Drafts are conducted with each of the 10 clubs nominating a set number of AFL players at a set price. If a player is nominated by only one club, that club signs the player at the set price. If a player is nominated by 2 or more clubs, he is deemed to be a Player In Dispute (PID). A PID is then bidded-for by the clubs in dispute. The minimum bid is the set price + $1 and the highest bid wins. The bidding process takes place at the same time as the nominations for the following round of the draft. Clubs in dispute do not have to bid. If no bid is received, the player is Passed In and returns to Free Agent status. If 2 or more bids are equal highest, the bidding process is repeated until the player is signed or Passed In. Clubs involved in the bidding process can do deals. Say Aliens and Tigers are the only 2 clubs to nominate Crawford and Buckley in the first round of the draft. The two owners could negotiate that Aliens get Crawford and Tigers get Buckley. Aliens would bid $150,001 (the set price + $1) for Crawford and decline to bid on Buckley. Tigers would bid $150,001 for Buckley and decline on Crawford. That's a win-win, because each club signs one player at the minimum price. It turns into a win-loss scenario if one club decides to double-cross. In the above scenario, Aliens could do the dirty by also bidding $150,002 for Buckley and grab both players while Tigers would have basically wasted 2 first-round draft choices. But things get a lot more complicated than that. The reality is that in the first 2 or 3 drafts, most clubs will be in dispute over a few players, and many good players will be disputed by 4 or 5 clubs. So there is potential for 3 or 4 way deals. The really, really important thing to remember about deals is that they rely entirely on each club doing what they say they will. Rule 3B - All deals negotiated between clubs are entirely at the risk of the clubs involved. Deals are transacted by the participating clubs submitting normal orders which are processed as usual. The SFL does not, in any way, play any part in the enforcement or resolution of deals or their consequences. Doing deals is, of course, entirely optional. There may be 5 clubs in dispute over Buckley and each is determined to claim him, so no deals are done - it's down to who is willing to pay the most. This is where inflation kicks in and the urge to sign Buckley could over-rule the brain and a ridiculous amount could be bid. Remember that at this stage you have only $3,000,000 in the bank and you need a squad of at least 24 to field a team of 18 on the field, 3 interchange and 3 emergencies. Rule 3C - The Initial Drafts are conducted in the following manner: The first round allows clubs 5 selections each at the set price of $150,000 The second round allows clubs 5 selections each at the set price of $120,000 The third round allows clubs 10 selections each at the set price of $90,000 The fourth round allows clubs 10 selections each at the set price of $60,000 The fifth and any subsequent rounds allow clubs 10 selections each at the set price of $50,000 Initial Draft selections in Rounds 3, 4 & 5 can be traded Initial Draft selections do not have to be used You will notice that the first 5 rounds of drafting give a club the chance to draft a total of 40 players, but the competitive nature of the draft means that many nominations will be disputed by many clubs. As a rough rule-of-thumb, expect to sign 3 players for every 5 you nominate. But you may get 5 out of 5 or you may get none. Using the "3 from 5" scenario, if you nominated the full allowance in each of the first 5 rounds, you would sign 24 players for a total cost of $1,920,000. But that figure assumes you sign each player at the set price, which is very unlikely. You will almost certainly have to pay more if you are involved in a dispute over a player, and just about all the stars will be disputed. So, how much do you bid on a PID? That's entirely up to you, but there are a number of things you should consider... Who are you bidding against? Just 1 other owner or 2, 3, 4 or even 5 others? What about the other teams in the dispute, are they also in dispute over other players? How many? How about a deal. Are you in dispute with the same owner over more than one player? What about finances? How much can you afford to spend? How much can the other owners afford to spend? How many other players are you bidding for? Should you concentrate on one particular player or go for them all? I am taking a long time to explain a process that will only happen once in the history of each league, but it is important to understand the financial implications of the Initial Drafts. A bad case of overspending could easily cripple a club financially, from which it could take years to recover. The average gate-take for a first-year club is roughly $55,000 per round, and it costs about the same to put the average team on the field each week - it was designed that way. So the initial $3,000,000 has got to last you the season and pay for everything - initial drafts, coach draft, deals, marketing, free agent buys, the lot. It would be a wise owner who had a few hundred $K in the bank at the conclusion of the initial drafts. But the main focus of the draft is the players. Who do you draft, and why? To answer that, you will need to know how a game of Sim Football is played. |
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