DenieD
Ken
Everyone knows Sweet-FA is built on recruiting. It's how the league has grown to 13 and soon (hopefully) 14 teams. In this thread I will be discussing the process with multiple accomplished recruiters in the league to try and understand what it takes to be successful in recruiting.
With me on the couch is esteemed Sweet-FA posters Dingster from the East Side Phoenix, The Filth Wizard from the Gold City Royals and Hate from the Mount Buller Demons.
We'll start with Dingster. Welcome Ding. You are known around the league as a recruiting expert. How exactly do you go about recruiting players for your team?
Dingster: Pretty much just roll up my sleeves and have a wonder around BF and if I see someone that catches my eye stop and have a look at their profile, engagement levels and recent posts.
I mostly focus on bringing in new players to Sweet. The exceptions are often my own recruits, a prime example targeting Elmer_Judd to the Roys and he proved to be a great fit and is now a premiership player. Fun fact I recruited EJ three times! The Vampires, the Wonders and the Roys.
I'll add it helped with Wosh doing a great job bringing in zackah and Lore that were also great fits to the Roys. So that one two punch works great if you have that luxury in a LG.
Now over to the The Filth Wizard. Welcome Filthy. You have been in the league for 19 seasons now while also being a leader for your club in the majority of those, how do you go about recruiting players to your team?
The Filth Wizard: Cheers Den, there's no real easy way to recruit but for in-league recruiting my first rule is to do the groundwork early. I try to plant the seed with posters I like and have a good rapport with and if you spend some time chatting you can generally get a gauge if somebody is keen for a move down the track. If successful, you've done most of your recruiting by finals. Rule 2 is there's no prize for how many recruits you bring in, rookies or existing players, it's really important to only bring in people you know will 1) fit in to your group and 2) won't cause headaches down the track. There's been a few rookies recently pack it in early because they don't get the place and I reckon a lot of that is down to captains just hitting and hoping with rookies and not giving their due diligence in ticking them off as suitable for the place. I've never been one for mass recruiting drives and heaps of PM's going out because you lose a personal touch, it reads like just hitting a quota. You've got to romance recruits, there's 12 and eventually 13 clubs (or none at all) after that player, find a point of difference. Above all, make sure they are a fit for you and you for them because it's easy to be greedy after a recruit but if you burn them they're gone for good, and maybe some of your existing teammates along with them.
And lastly over to Hate. Welcome Hate, this is now your 17th season in Sweet-FA and while you haven't done much recruiting of late, you had to have done your fair share of recruiting in your time. How did you go about recruiting posters for your side back then?
Hate: In all fairness, I honestly could not name you the last person I recruited to the league. I imagine the way I went about it, say when I was captain of the Dragons FFC, would not be too far off, if not the same, as it is done today. Predominantly by the good old trusty tool, which we call the private message.
A lot of clubs you will find are happy to just throw something and see what sticks. It is not a bad strategy, because in the end, out of X amount you are bound to get a few recruits. From memory, my approach was to lurk on the boards that I thought may contain posters that may genuinely be interesting - boards such as the video games board, Fantasy/DT/Supercoach boards were my go-to. I do not know if it was a real thing, but my thought process was they are going to be a) Football fans b) enjoy games and c) easier to convince that our fantasy world is actually really cool.
Another approach that was a favourite of mine was seeing which AFL Club we lacked players from and approaching players with a private message based around that. Or the opposite can also work, in that you can rattle off a list of players they may be familiar with from the AFL board they post on. I am in the camp of never mentioning such inferior sporting leagues or anything to do with them in general posting in the Sweet F.A, but you have to get them in somehow!
The big challenge is not so much recruiting, but rather getting someone to stay interested just enough to get them through the I have no clue what is happening part, in my opinion.
Back to Ding. On the flipside of things, you have now changed teams 7 times in your career with Phoenix recruiting you in the offseason. What was it that attracted you to join them?
Dingster: There was no intention to change on my part, but mwerps reached out saying it would be Chipmunk 's last season so the best chance to post with her, Chippy and por_please_ya . That tipped me over the line. If you remember I was in the Vampire's LG with Chippy and got to know him then so it just made sense.
Now to Filthy. You have been at 3 different teams over the length of your career to date, joining Sweet-FA in season 16 with the Dragons then moving to East Side in season 21 and finally arriving at the Royals in season 27. What was their recruitment process like to try and acquire your talents?
The Filth Wizard: Hmm, there's a throw back. I started sniffing around the league in the S16 pre-season as my brother pantskyle was trying to get me across after becoming hooked on the place and I was pretty lucky to get to play in a winning SOO for NSW/ACT before even picking my first team. It was Jack The Godfather then known as MD, who lured me over to the Dragons after teaming up in SOO. The other two teams were a bit less I was recruited and more I was involved in takeovers as I went to the Hawks as part of a package with pants and Wacky Tiger to give them a makeover and then when that was done, I went over to the Royals as captain after offering my services to a team full of posters I always wanted to play with.
To Hate again. You have changed teams 4 times in your career to date. How did these teams go about recruiting you? What attracted you to join them when you did?
Hate: I initially joined the Sweet Football Association on the back of a profile message from fumbler. My response was as follows: 'The what what? I am afraid I am lost here haha. Explain?' It was around the time of State of Origin (horrific concept, not worthy, by the way) and I waited until the start of Season 18 and joined him and my good friend Wacky Tiger and the Fighting Furies.
At the time I was either posting on the WWE board or had probably made a reference in a post that Danoz and/or The Filth Wizard saw. They approached me on the basis of me being a wrestling fan, that I may be interested in a concept they had in planning, which would ultimately end up being the Dragons FFC nWo. I was still shy on what the league actually was all about, but they convinced me with their charm and conviction it was going to be a big part of the league, which it was. I decided it would be fun to give a go.
I stayed with the Dragons FFC until the end of Season 24, when I decided I felt like a change-up was needed. I moved back to the Fighting Furies, but I honestly cannot recall if I approached them or the other way. If I were to guess, I probably approached them.
By the end of Season 30, it was a bit of a mutual parting as I was not going to hold up anyone else and we could not agree to have me played in a position I found suitable. My memory is shaky, but I believe I posted in the sign-up thread and received a flood of messages. It was a pretty simple process, whereas, for a rookie, the position is not really paramount until they have played a few games, I wanted the Ruck position and would settle for nothing less.
The East Side Hawks were one of those teams to approach and willing to accommodate my wants. The private message was not too fancy, but at the time they, and this may surprise many, were a respected club in the competition and were also a posting unit I enjoyed posting against. It very much remained that way until they decided to destroy the very fabric of a club nearing two decades of participation without consultation of their own playing group. Those are the facts, and the defenders can try to run their own storyline, but it just does not stack up to serious scrutiny.
As a result of the above, I joined the Mount Buller Demons. My public display of affection seemingly become a point of note for a few clubs that had approached me. manangatang was the one who approached me. I almost joined the Demons before the Hawks, but with five days or so left before the deadline. Their LG group was keen to sign me and was willing to accommodate my positional needs and the deal was done with not long left on the clock.
This one is for all of you. What has been your favourite recruitment PM that you have received in your time in Sweet-FA?
Dingster: Most don't last much longer after recruitment. The interesting one was Cats_R_Cool_4_Ever who wasn't sure about joining so we eased her in over a season. mostly me chatting in PM and she followed the game and started to get a feel for the people and ended up posting here and there. We then added her the following season and she made a fantastic contribution both in match threads and the team PM.
The Filth Wizard: I think retention is just as important as recruitment so if I can cheat a little, just as the Hawks were really firing we found out that the Bears had poached Agent93 and por_please_ya which if you look at the history of the Hawks now Phoenix this was a real sliding doors moment as both of them were humongously important players for us. Loonerty and I worked hard to assure both how important they were, we reshuffled our leadership group and luckily were able to keep both. It's a little diabolical but I did also stumble upon an unnamed Bears player gloating about their victory over us which obviously I played up. Similarly, retaining nahnah after the OOB had announced him was also a huge win and has really shaped the next stage of the Royals.
Hate: I can not even remember your first message to me in this conversation, let alone any recruitment PMs!!
Ok we'll move on...
Finally one last question for you all. If you could recruit anyone in the league right now to join your team this season who would you pick?
Dingster: Headless because of his posting style and we would bounce off of each other in match threads. Would be a good mix of fun and shenanigans.
The Filth Wizard: Gee, you wouldn't be going wrong landing present company IMO and not just the good looks. I adore manangatang and Barrybran as well, as current posters I'm yet to team up with. Not to coddle a lot of these guys but I have been extraordinarily lucky with some of the people I've been able to work with, not only at club and SOO level but also within the committee.
Hate: Headless , of course.
Oh, you say Headless is already on my team? Aw, how unlucky for everyone else who can not experience the joy.
I have always wanted to play alongside my dear friend Wosh . That will continue to be my answer until it happens and should be the answer of everyone else you ask this question to.
And that wraps up the questions. Thank you Dingster , The Filth Wizard and Hate for taking part in these interviews.
Ophidian Old Boys
