Dropping Judd*

In round 22 last year (Grand final week for fantasy comps) I was noticing one of my work colleagues playing a more popular game. Him and his co-coach were looking over their team, decimated by injury and limping to the line after an 18-0 season. They had 17 of their team picked and were settling in on their last decision... Chris Judd or Simon Hogan.

How many coaches would like to be entering a grand final trying to figure out how to fit Chris Judd into their team? I know I sure would, the best player of the decade [probably] and a man known to perform in big games..

Well, they're decision was to play Hogan. I would NOT like to be the one telling Juddy that he needed to sit on the pine for a Grand Final (let alone the fans!)

The thing is, the move WORKED. Juddy had a good game but Hogan scored more points and they won their Grand Final by 17 (1893 to 1876 or something). Seriously? Dropping Judd for a Grand Final and it works? Which game do you want to play?

FootyHero®!! In our game, Judd [the 17th ranked FootyHero player for the season] had 7 first possessions, 3 inside 50s [perfect to play in the midfield of our FootyHero® team!] and because each category counts for itself Judd still would have made the difference for any team!

Winning a final through coaching.

Among one of the coolest feature (and certain to be imitated by other sites if they were clever enough) of the FootyHero game is that player selection does not freeze on Friday night. Certainly, you need to name your 22 at the start of the game but you can still make match-up changes over the weekend as you like. Players only stop being able to be moved around in the 22 if their Aussie Rules game has started. In our premier league last season, the eventual premier (the Wolves) faced a rival (the Fever) in the first semi-final.

The Wolves were the underdog after finishing 4th and two weeks before hand had lost to the Fever by 1 point. Each team named its side and began the game. However, after the Friday night's game it was clear that The Wolves needed to make a move. The Fever had played their hero but the Wolves had a trick up their sleeve and changed their hero to one of their ruckmen to counter bean pole Aaron Sandilands*. The Fever did not name a second ruckman and it meant one of their massive category advantages were erased.

Both coaches exchanged positional switching looking to get bonuses in various categories but this one move proved decisive as the Wolves won by 15 points and 2 weeks later were league premiers! Why play other games which have no involvement except for 5 minutes on a Friday? Play FootyHero®!!

*Chris Judd and Aaron Sandilands are not affiliated with this site or game and their name is used only as a device to describe the statistical nature of this fantasy Aussie Rules game.