The Rugby Magazine - Fantasy Rugby

[Shiny]

It still shows on my leader board page...

And mine

[Scrumhead]

Yeah - same here actually ...

[Raggs]

I've caved... Bought my first two players. Both under $200k so budgeting well for squad size. Both should be starting matches i believe and both with some positional flexibility to help set lineups.

Going to try and hold off for now, but there are some others I'm eyeing up. Think I'll be better budgeting this time though, but some big names are still worth it i reckon.

[Scrumhead]

Definitely. It’s about striking the right balance between the big players and the stalwarts. Also, none of the Super Rugby players like Shields or Kriel have been added yet so I’m waiting to see valuations etc.

I’m such a sad bastard, I have spreadsheets from last season and a list of players, trends and analysis I’m using to try to do better than last year. A lot work and effort considering I was only upper mid table in our league!

Basically I have a core of ‘must haves’ and a bunch where it’s an either/or scenario.

I might enter more than one team to run an A/B test on perception vs. pure ‘Moneyball’ type stats.

I must say, the bargains are a little less clear cut this season. For example, Simmonds and Wilson were key points scorers for me for low investment. I’m not seeing many who I’d expect to provide the same bang for buck this season.

[Raggs]

Wow, really going for it this time! Since I'm no longer upgraded, I'll be doing even less stats, but checking scores etc. Got a few ideas on players I want, but need to see what lineups are, and what managers are doing before I commit to too many. Think my first week will be a rather bland week, and only then push the boat out.

[Scrumhead]

Yeah. I’m going to pay for the update. I think the game is really good and I’ve easily had more enjoyment out of the game to warrant doing it. I don’t have it for Super Rugby and I’ve missed not having it.

There are quite a few new features too, which are all good.

[Puja]

Yeah. I’m going to pay for the update. I think the game is really good and I’ve easily had more enjoyment out of the game to warrant doing it. I don’t have it for Super Rugby and I’ve missed not having it.

There are quite a few new features too, which are all good.

Agreed - the game is enough fun that I'm happy to pay money to support it, regardless of what the features actually are.

Puja

[Shiny]

Yup, I have paid my coin. Not sure how much I will use the extra features but its worth it for just playing the game.

[Stom]

We're still missing players, but there don't seem to be many absolute bargains.

[Raggs]

I'm going to hold off and see just what I can see without the investment. Be interesting to see how much of a difference it makes.

Bargains tended to be breakthrough players that you wouldn't perhaps have picked before, so we'll see.

[Stom]

I'm going to hold off and see just what I can see without the investment. Be interesting to see how much of a difference it makes.

Bargains tended to be breakthrough players that you wouldn't perhaps have picked before, so we'll see.

Yeah. And as for this year...Well Mikalcius isn't in it yet, but the Quins players are extremely expensive considering our performance last season...

I thought I'd be able to pick up a few squad players this early but they're all 150k plus. None of those 100k bargains like last time around.

[Raggs]

There's a few around the 100-110k range that look to have potential, but it depends on if they get gametime due to injuries etc. Definitely doesn't seem to be the really cheap ones from last season though, cheapest is 95k and that's it.

[Stom]

There's a few around the 100-110k range that look to have potential, but it depends on if they get gametime due to injuries etc. Definitely doesn't seem to be the really cheap ones from last season though, cheapest is 95k and that's it.

Willis the younger cost £1 last time round :p

[Scrumhead]

I'm going to hold off and see just what I can see without the investment. Be interesting to see how much of a difference it makes.

Bargains tended to be breakthrough players that you wouldn't perhaps have picked before, so we'll see.

Yes and no. Mark Wilson and Harry Williams were both under £150k IIRC. There were others too.

I do think some players are over-priced though. A few of the players I might have considered to be risk/reward gambles are too expensive to justify the risk.

[Raggs]

It may be the owner felt too many people how too many stars and still large squads, and wanted to put on a bit of a squeeze.

[Puja]

When I queried his pricing last year, he told me that he'd specifically priced some players "wrong" in his estimation, with the basis that more knowledgeable rugby fans would be able to spot the bargains and eschew the overpriced, possibly more famous, names who weren't as good value for money. Couldn't fault his approach (especially since I did quite well last year!).

Puja

[Scrumhead]

Yeah - he said the same to me.

I think Mark Wilson was definitely an example of an unsung hero who a more casual fan would probably have ignored. Harry Williams probably the same idea - except that he was typically underwhelming on the actual points scoring for a prop in a top team

I just don’t see as much of that this year?

[Mellsblue]

Perhaps you just aren’t as informed as you were last year. The RR paradox of the more you post on a subject the less you know must have struck you. Just look at Diggers. He posted so much during the SA tour he thought the ‘E’ in ‘EMB’ stood for endless.

[Stom]

You can fiddle with your team as much as you like until the first round, right?

I've started putting a team together. Got 29 players but it's a bit unbalanced right now...

I picked May, Wade, le Roux, Piutau and Faf

One of those will have to fall by the wayside as I only selected 2 hookers, 2 SHs and 4 props.

[Shiny]

I'm waiting for the Super Rugby to finish so that Taqele Naiyaravoro can be added to the pool of available players.

[Stom]

I'm waiting for the Super Rugby to finish so that Taqele Naiyaravoro can be added to the pool of available players.

And here I am waiting for Jonas Mikalcius...

[Scrumhead]

Is anyone interested in doing a separate ‘challenge league’ where there’s some kind of different element to it?

I’m thinking of stuff like:

£5k budget limit
Under 23 limit
All players £200k or less
New players only - i.e. never played Premiership rugby before

Possibly a dumb idea, but I thought it could be fun.

[Puja]

Is anyone interested in doing a separate ‘challenge league’ where there’s some kind of different element to it?

I’m thinking of stuff like:

£5k budget limit
Under 23 limit
All players £200k or less
New players only - i.e. never played Premiership rugby before

Possibly a dumb idea, but I thought it could be fun.

That'd be interesting. I like the U23s idea. Hard to police though; we'd have to trust each other.

Puja

[Stom]

Is anyone interested in doing a separate ‘challenge league’ where there’s some kind of different element to it?

I’m thinking of stuff like:

£5k budget limit
Under 23 limit
All players £200k or less
New players only - i.e. never played Premiership rugby before

Possibly a dumb idea, but I thought it could be fun.

That'd be interesting. I like the U23s idea. Hard to police though; we'd have to trust each other.

Puja

But you can't have 2 teams, right? How do you do it?

[Puja]

Is anyone interested in doing a separate ‘challenge league’ where there’s some kind of different element to it?

I’m thinking of stuff like:

£5k budget limit
Under 23 limit
All players £200k or less
New players only - i.e. never played Premiership rugby before

Possibly a dumb idea, but I thought it could be fun.

That'd be interesting. I like the U23s idea. Hard to police though; we'd have to trust each other.

Puja

But you can't have 2 teams, right? How do you do it?

2 e-mail addresses, 2 accounts, 2 teams.

Puja