UV2RL Drafting Experience – Part 1
DRAFT DAY PART 1
The most important date on the NRLCEO calendar is upon us; Draft Day. It is a day that simultaneously marks the beginning and for some the end of the season. You can’t win the comp on Draft Day but you can lose it.
Our draft is being held at night for the first time in 10 years. Fortunately it’s a Friday so work has kept me occupied which meant I didn’t have to sit around all day trying not to play the draft out over in my head. This isn’t to say that come 5 o’clock I didn’t rush straight home like a kid when school’s out for summer.
I don’t know why I’m rushing. I have plenty of time. I’ve already printed out of my Excel spreadsheet of last year’s stats including scouting notes such as which players are injured, who I think is in for a big year and who I want to avoid if I think for some reason they won’t do much this year. In the flurry of a fantasy draft it’s easy to be attracted to last year’s stats and forget that a player may not be in a position to replicate it this year.
At this point I should probably give you an insight into how our competition works. The UV2RL is in its 13th season. It is named after University Village 2, the on campus residence at the University of Canberra where all of us met. In the UV2RL each team is able to keep 10 players from the previous season. This was initially enacted to allow NRLCEOs who unearthed star players during the season to be rewarded for their diligence by being able to retain the nucleus of their team the following year.
What I’ve realised is that it also makes Draft Day much quicker as almost half the squad is already picked. So if, as you read this, you’re thinking why is there no mention of the real guns in fantasy rugby league keep in mind that most of them are not on the market which makes improving on last year all the more difficult.
To compensate for that, the draft order is determined by the ladder from the previous season. The ladder is inverted with the team who ‘won’ the wooden spoon getting to pick first right through to the team who finished minor premiers going last. For me it’s going to be a difficult draft, despite having won the comp before, my second place finish in 2013 was my best regular season result but it means I’m picking second to last this year. To me this is the worst spot in our draft; at least the guy who is after me went on to win last year’s Grand Final.
Because everyone in the UV2RL is spread out geographically the draft is done on Skype. As I log on it occurs to me that this is the only time I ever used it. Along with my Excel spreadsheet I also have my list of keepers by position as well as 50 players I’ve short listed. Some are star players, others are roughies but these are they players I want to target. I know I won’t get all of them but mathematically I’m guaranteed to at least get four or five, hopefully I can pick up six or seven.
At the last minute I decide to print out the spreadsheet in order of position but now my printer has packed it in! Not a good sign. I still have my print out in order of NRL team and can refer to it by position on my computer but after the infamous computer meltdown of 2006 when a former UV2RL CEO’s laptop completely shat itself leaving him absolutely clueless as to who he wanted to pick next, I like to have it all printed out.
It’s now 7 o’clock, some of the boys have already logged on and the banter has already begun…
Geoff Adams
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