Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
LIVE: Sydney v Port Adelaide - 7:40 / 7:10 Fri
Squiggle tips Swans at 57% chance -- What's your tip? -- Teams on Thurs »
LIVE: Geelong v Brisbane Lions - 7:30PM Sat
Squiggle tips Cats at 54% chance -- What's your tip? -- Teams on Thurs »
Weekly Prize - Join Any Time - Tip Prelim Finals
The Golden Ticket - MCG and Marvel Medallion Club tickets and Corporate Box tickets at the Gabba, MCG and Marvel.
AFLW 2024 - Round 4 - Chat, game threads, injury lists, team lineups and more.
You say that now...Hey Gumbies, you stink
I all captains could do their bit and tag their teams that'd be great, we're no more active than a single bombers thread as it stands!
I think there should be a poll about your Av. I’m saying you need to be you but get thatI all captains could do their bit and tag their teams that'd be great, we're no more active than a single bombers thread as it stands!
I all captains could do their bit and tag their teams that'd be great, we're no more active than a single bombers thread as it stands!
So who plays for the team that my team is playing against?
They haven't even posted
Now THIS is my kind of match thread
Oh cool is this the place where we store all of our schtick like it's that seed vault in Norway? Awesome! Let me add that thing I did a while ago:I think I’ve been quite open (at all times and at all costs) over the last many seasons re: my thoughts on All-Sweet FA criteria and selection, but I’ll try to summarise below.
My main concerns with current circumstances are:
There are ample examples of this over a period of many seasons, but the type of selection I’m talking about is the selection of I Dont Care (who (I think) played every single game as a ruck rover) in a back pocket in Season 29. To me, that makes absolutely no sense when we could be recognising somebody who actually played in that less glamorous position, who is almost immediately precluded from any sort of sim-based award.
- specific positions seem to be disproportionately recognised in All-Sweet FA team selection; and that
- those who play in less glamorous positions are consistently overlooked, and that this is ultimately harmful to the strength and depth of the league.
In my view, All-Sweet FA selection should be based where possible on a 50:50 split between sim performance and match thread contributions. Media shouldn’t be a factor. That’s not to say I don’t think media is important – to the contrary. I just think that media shouldn’t be a factor in All-Sweet FA selection specifically, and honestly I’m not really sure when it became so (if it has).
A few things to note:
Typically the counter-argument seems to be that the best posters tend to occupy “premium” (midfield, ruck, FF) positions, so of course more worthy posters will be in those positions. But the best posters play in those positions because they’re the positions most likely to be rewarded and/or accumulate stats. Why would anybody want to play on a HBF or FP when only three or four backs and forwards are named in the All-Sweet FA team?
- By “sim performance”, I don’t mean “top 20 players based on DT points” or anything along those lines. I think sim performance should be considered with positional context, and Barrybran’s work re: position-specific statistics is a strong step in the right direction. If Player A, a full forward, kicks 40 goals (the 10th best of all full forwards), but Player B, a forward picket, kicks 25 goals (the best of all forward pockets), I think Player B should have a stronger argument for final team selection based on sim performance alone, particularly given there are two available forward pocket positions. I don’t think this is currently the case.
- I think match thread posting should also be taken with positional context in mind. So (assuming posting quality is deemed equal) if the top 15 posters are all midfielders, that doesn’t mean all 15 midfielders should make the team – after all, there are only six midfield positions (including ruck), plus two interchange positions. It doesn’t mean we need to shoehorn all 15 into positions they didn’t play just because they have nice stats and posted lots.
If we start recognising those who play in less glamorous positions, maybe there’ll be less of a logjam for the “premium” positions. Maybe there’ll be more engagement around the league for those who aren’t kicking goals or notching up 12 tackles every week, like I tried to do with my stupid interchange campaign. Maybe – and this is my big thing – retention will improve, because rookies and more players in general will have something to work toward, or a realistic chance of All-Sweet FA honours come the end of the season. Because let’s be honest: if you’re currently a decent poster playing on a flank, you have very little chance – and that’s even before the season begins, just based on how All-Sweet FA current works.
Regarding media, to me, that’s what the beez MVP Trophy is for – to recognise the season’s best overall posters, including media. I’ve heard the argument that placings in the beez don’t matter apart from the winner. I don’t agree with that, but if that’s the general view, why not make a second “official” representative team based on the beez top 20? That way, you could make the All-Sweet FA team if you’ve had a great match thread posting and sim performance season, or the beez representative team if you’ve had a great overall posting season, or both if you’ve had all of the above. Make it a big thing.
Regarding quotas, I don’t have a strong opinion on the maximum of five nominations per club thing. I get why it exists. What I don’t get is the idea that if 80% of nominated players are midfielders, 80% of named players in the ultimate team need to be midfielders. As above, clubs are more likely to nominate their mids because a) they tend to accumulate the most (not necessarily contextually most impressive) statistics, and b) the most prominent posters tend to play in those positions for the aforementioned reasons. What this quota is doing is just reinforcing that cycle.
Mostly mids are nominated, so mostly mids are named, so there’s a logjam for midfield positions, so the best posters tend to play in those positions, so mostly mids are nominated, so mostly mids are named, and so on.
We just need to break that cycle, because it doesn’t make sense. This is how you end up with completely nonsensical decisions, like I Dont Care in a back pocket.
Also, for clarity, I don’t think there should be an interchange-specific position in the All-Sweet FA team, but I do think that all players should be appropriately considered based on their performance throughout the season in context of that position.