2019 BBFFL#2 Season Launch
Welcome to BBFFL#2 for our 8th season. The JLT Series is only a few weeks away now and the expectation is that UF will open any day. The keys dates for this season are outlined below. I have worked on the expectation that the draft will run smoothly this season (fingers crossed this isn’t wishful thinking) and therefore have maximised the number of JLT Series matches before the draft starts.
There are a couple of changes that need to be officially announced for season 2019. The first one relates to some coaching changes and the other is the clarification of rule changes for this season.
Coaching Changes
It is with some sadness that we are losing 4 coaches from our 2018 season, including 3 who have been with us since the beginning. However, I am confident we have more than capable replacements who will help to add a new level of spice and excitement to our league.
The changes are as follows:
@Laverde2Langford – as leaked to the Blitz community back in October, Laverde2Langford is very pumped to be joining our league and he will be taking over 51 Bewick’s team. The squad made the finals last year and has been built for a period of prolonged success, so it will be interesting to watch how much the new coach shakes things up.
@The_Ant - will be taking over Eggs team. He loves his supercoach and fantasy hockey and is very excited by prospect of taking up the keeper’s league challenge for the first time. The squad has commenced a rebuild so it will be interesting to see which direction The Ant decides to take it now he has control.
@dbeas – will be taking the reins of Bargey’s team. He has played lots of fantasy footy before and is looking forward to the task of keeping this strong squad near the top of the table. Maybe finally now the Travis Boak deal with Wezza can be done!
@Crazy_Bomber – picks up one of more difficult situations, by inheriting a team that only won a single game in 2018. He does however join the competition with pick 1 under his control. It will be interesting to see if he can use some of his trading prowess developed in the original BBFFL league to turn the squad’s fortunes around. He assures me he is up to it and will look to be very active at the trade table.
Departing Coaches
Personally, I want to thank all of Bargey, Eggs and 51 Bewick for their contributions over 7 seasons. Also, it was fantastic that Vandrs could step in last year and do a great job just when our league reached a horrible depth none of us want to witness again.
@Bargey bows out as a dual premiership winner and runner up in 2018. After 3 straight seasons finishing in 9th spot, he went on to finish top 4 in his last 4 seasons. Overall Bargey had 103 wins from 147 games, including a 9 win 5 loss finals record.
After living out of the AFL bubble in the USA for the past few seasons, @Eggs felt the time was right to hand over his team. His time as a BBFFL#2 coach ended with a positive winning record – 69 wins and 68 losses. However, his finals record was 0-4, having gone out in straight sets in his only 2 finals appearances in 2016 and 2017. Remarkably both these seasons were very similar, winning 14 games and finishing the season in 4th spot before the finals.
@51Bewick departs our league with 55 wins and 82 losses. Back in 2012 we were most thankful that 51 Bewick stepped into the breach that resulted from the mystery that was The Great Artesian Basin. He adopted a similar mentality of building a squad for the long haul. Unfortunately, untimely injuries played a large part in the team never reaching the BBFFL#2 pinnacle. After making the finals in 2014 and 2015, 51 Bewick finally broke through for his first final’s victory in 2018 to finish with 1-3 record in finals.
@Vandrs had the briefest of BBFFL#2 stays, joining the league before round 4 last season. The squad was a mess. During the season he managed to right the ship somewhat and finished it a lot stronger than how it started. His first and only win (to offset the 15 losses) came in his second last match as coach, while his record score was achieved in his last game as a BBFFL#2 coach.
To all these coaches – please don’t be strangers to our comp. You all played a great part in making BBFFL#2 what it is today.
Rule Changes
Position Change
The major rule change for this year is that we will be reverting to using the utility position rather than 7 centres. We previously used the utility position back in 2015. This rule to aimed at avoiding zeros in our teams. As a result, coaches scoring zeros will monitored more closely than in previous years. This change means the starting 18 for 2019 will consist of the following position breakdown:
- Backs x 5
- Centres x 6
- Forwards x 5
- Ruck x 1
- Utility x 1
The interchange setup remains the same, with a player only eligible to replace a non-scoring player if they have the same position allocation. If your utility doesn’t play the first scoring interchange player will replace them.
Top-up players
The AFL have amended the rules for 2019, meaning clubs will be able to list a player anytime up until 15 March 2019. This therefore has potential implications for our draft, giving it is likely to fall in the middle of our selections. Therefore, it has been determined that the only fair way to handle these players is that we allow all players eligible to be rookie listed and training with AFL clubs to be picked up at any time in our draft, which would include before they are officially AFL listed.
The clear benefit of this approach is that everyone has the same opportunity to select the players, without slowing down the draft or risking a coach throwing their round 1 match to maximise their FA position. I appreciate there are some issues, ie we won’t be certain they will get listed which could mean a wasted pick and also, we won’t necessarily have a UF position for the player when they are drafted. However, the pros outweigh the cons of this approach.
There is also a mid-season draft after round 11. Players selected here will become restricted free agents and will be available at the next free agent selection.
KEY AFL DATES
JLT Community Series 28 February to 11 March
Round 1 commences 21 March
KEY BBFFL#2 DATES
Final trades to be finalised by 6pm 8 March
Squads to be trimmed to 20 by 10pm 9 March
Afternoon of 10 March a spreadsheet with available players will be circulated
Draft to commence no later than midday on 11 March
Draft to be completed by Tuesday 19 March
Partial Lockout for Round 1 at 7.20pm Thursday 21 March
Keepers
For our keepers, my preference is for you to select your 20 keepers in UF rather than posting in Blitz. Any trades that take place will not be reflected immediately on UF and I will add the players once the keepers are finalised. Anyone wishing to list a LTI will have to do so prior to the commencement of the draft to get a pick in the post draft ‘LTI Draft’. Otherwise you will have to wait until the first free agency period to acquire a replacement.
Draft Format
After the success of drafting UF last year, we will stick with it. I will still send out the initial spreadsheet with averages for the last couple of year. Like last year we will still at a minimum post the overall draft picks in Blitz. The combination of email alerts and texting should ensure the draft moves smoothly.
After the perfect season in 2018 I am looking forward to repeating to dose in 2019! I am under no illusions that it will be easy, but I am certainly up for the challenge. Once UF is open I will send you the league invite, please let me know if your email address has changed from last year. As always let me know if you have any questions or issues.