A HUGE final round helped Chris Burnham claim the AFL Fantasy Classic crown in 2024.
Chris' 'Noeyedeer5' scored 2,548 in the final round to jump to the top of the leaderboard and claim the Toyota HiLux.
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He tells his story, from picking his starting squad to some of his best choices as he claimed the major prize.
Picking my starting squad
My pre-season starts in November with The Traders putting out their pre-season podcasts.
After the luxury of 2023 with Josh Dunkley, Stephen Coniglio, Zak Butters, Tim Taranto, Errol Gulden and Connor Rozee being forwards, this year's crop was thin to say the least. This did mean we could spend bigger on defence and midfield with Elliot Yeo being my D5 and only three rookies in midfield, as opposed to some who were rocking with four rookies in there.
This season also had the uniqueness of Opening Round, where we got a free look at players' roles and scoring capabilities, and extra cash generation built into their price following the completion of round one, which we would then have to evaluate whether losing them for a week during their bye was worth the lost points. Below, I've put in brackets their Opening Round score, which might help understand some of the choices I made…
My backline had one point of difference (POD) in Dan Houston, who I kept until his bye, riding his highs and lows. Connor Budarick (88) was seen by Gold Coast coach Damien Hardwick as his Jayden Short or Liam Baker, but I learned sometimes we should ignore the pre-season hype. The yearly headache of Yeo snuck into my team, one of my favourite players in real life but who always bites in Fantasy.
Another pre-season hype was the expectation that 'half-back time' was the new 'more mid clock', so I earmarked Karl Amon and Nic Martin as distributers in my midfield and picked the wrong Adelaide based mid-pricer in Ollie Wines over Matt Crouch.
In the rucks, I was going to choose Max Gawn (87) and Tristan Xerri. That was until Opening Round, when Brodie Grundy (118) soundly beat 'Maxy'. This move freed up $100k of salary cap space, and a theme over the following weeks was whether not getting Max would cost me.
My forward line was also dominated by some 'half-back time' hopefuls in Zac Fisher and Alex Sexton (80), along with mid-pricer James Jordon (76). I also took a punt on Luke Jackson with Sean Darcy out for a mysterious amount of time, and got an instant reward in week one.
With all the above, it allowed me to own all 3 'Weasels' from the start. Sorry, Cal.
Making key moves early
Correcting mistakes as soon as possible is always key at this stage of the season. Cash generation hasn't kicked in yet so you have a week or two to fix up any obvious errors.
Budarick went to Jordan Clark, who ended up almost a keeper, and Wines went to Riley Bonner, both being handy trades.
I finally got in Matt Crouch and got Tom Powell for an instant reward ton. That was followed by Dayne Zorko in the punt which got me a big jump on the rest by getting him round four and getting his 111 vice-captain score as instant reward.
This year also had early bye rounds being best 18. This was great timing and meant I didn't cop Colby McKercher's two and traded into Sam Flanders, meaning I now had three of the awesome foursome forwards already. Coming out of these early byes my overall ranking had gone from 21,000 after round one to 148 at the end of round six with five rookies on the ground, but Matt Roberts and Harley Reid were two of these, scoring 80s.
The wheels nearly fell off in round eight and the dummy was spat as I brought Tom Green back into the team for a seven, after trading him on his bye. I held him though and he's on the end of season trip with us now. It felt like deja vu from last season where I brought Callum Mills in for a three when ranked 39th and eyeing off my first hat, completely derailing my 2023 season.
Bye planning
I hit the top 100 just before the byes, fully appreciating the importance of a good bye structure, so you come out of the byes with a stronger team than you went in. You need to aim for 20 each round to drop off the bad scores. Also, the four bye rounds and the extra four trades were key. I plotted it out using Moreira's Magic's in-season guide bye planner which you plug your team into and it spits out your expected number of players fielded each round to help your structure.
Sexton found his way back into my team prior to the byes with his handy flexibility of being a dual-position player (FWD/DEF), and he scored a handy ton for me on return. I brought in Jack Crisp (123) and Will Day (92) on debuts, both of whom had the round 15 bye, and the intention was to just hold them through the byes and dump them on their bye, injuries and form permitting.
Errol Gulden (151) and Fisher (115) came in for Bonner, who had been a brilliant mid-pricer, and Reid and Darcy Wilson, all great servants. However, not all trade ins were hits, Luke Ryan arrived just as Roy got him for his form change and Christian Salem (53) didn't count and was ushered out the door the following week. I also got in Jye Caldwell to complete the forward foursome.
I ended the byes ranked ninth, had no rookies on my ground and had an extra mid-pricer on the bench, meaning looping opportunities remained.
Getting to the top 10
Unlike the previous two winners, I didn't hit the No.1 spot until the final game of the final round of the season. Cash generation was key for me and the fact I had Jy Simpkin as a forward/midfield looping option along with Billy Dowling, Shaun Mannagh, and soon after, James Peatling, I was able to have looks at multiple players in that tricky F6 position.
The challenge I did face was being overseas for rounds 17 and 18, hiking Mt Blanc, being in the air with no access to the Internet did give me some mild concerns and I had to plan loops and set alarms on my phone for timezone changes to make sure I didn't miss a lockout.
I did request an early Calvin's Captains view to be able to lock in my captain while hiking, but the pirate held firm and I missed Errol's 151 and got rewarded with Zach Merrett's 91…
Bringing it home
Every week after the byes I crept up a spot while hitting trades well. I moved on Grundy before he scored a 74 in round 19 for the expected big match-up for Tim English against Geelong. He got a 116 captain for me and was swiftly moved on to Rowan Marshall, who saw out the season alongside Xerri. I also got on Tom Stewart for his role of 'never failing in the midfield' (until the final two rounds) and got rid of Ryan, who had been a disaster of a trade in.
Round 20 was big for me, bringing in Andy Brayshaw, who would prove crucial for me on the final day, averaging 110 over his final five.
The final round
As mentioned on The Traders' podcast, the final round was drama-filled but could have turned out very differently if I had got my admin in order the week before. I had become very good at making the most of the rolling lockout and looping players, but I had not checked my emergencies before the round 23 Fremantle v Greater Western Sydney game started and had Harvey Harrison locked in my forward line with no ability to move him to Simpkin (77). So, I was stuck with Peatling's 33, which left me 32 points behind 'Pom United' with 41 points lost to an admin error.
In hindsight, it was probably a help, not a hinderance, because it meant I was still the chaser and made bolder moves rather than playing safe in the lead and trying to match.
My first move was marking down Tom's team (Pom United) and Brady's team (Bdizzle) and comparing them and trying to predict everyone's moves.
I knew everybody had to get Jeremy Cameron and was trying to work out who they would get rid of to get him. I knew Tom would go Gryan Miers to Cameron and assumed that Brady would go Jamarra Ugle-Hagan plus cash to him, which meant that his second trade was limited. My second move was not going to happen until I had seen the result of the Collingwood v Melbourne game. I had Daicos looped, knowing both of the others had him and if he scored badly, I could then put Clark on the ground and get a potential leg up there. Daicos came through for us and so Clark was a wasted resource for me so I moved to trade him. However, I was $1k short of getting rid of Peatling, who had almost cost me the car the previous week, to Noah Anderson and Cameron. As nobody else had Simpkin and with the confusion of North Melbourne's fixture being moved, I traded Simpkin and held Peatling, which turned out to be a blessing.
I looked at midfield mixes and worried about tags. The other teams had Rozee, Butters and Caleb Serong. I had Brayshaw and Adam Treloar as unique players as well, so I had a decision to make. I could either match and bring in Rozee, or try to win. After discussing with the GOAT Selby, he asked, 'Do you want to come second or win the car?' I needed a new car, so Anderson's potential soft draw was hopefully going to be the game-winning pick!
Saturday night drama!
Issac Heeney was a late out and suddenly everybody was reversing trades, meanwhile, 33 Peatling was about to step in and save my bacon. I would've been stranded if I traded out Peatling over Simpkin as the Roo had already played and would've been locked on my midfield bench. Tom matched with Peatling, which was probably sensible but could have taken on a Mattaes Phillipou.
It came down to the final game where I had a 92-point lead and Brayshaw to come against Tom's Rozee and Serong. I went to the game with my daughter to cheer Brayshaw home. In the end, both Rozee and Serong were tagged and Brayshaw ran around largely unopposed to win me the car and a moment I'll never forget.
Advice for next year
Cash generation is key. I was able to end the season with nine 'premium' midfielders and an extra forward so don't let your bench die early if you can avoid it.
Don't panic after round one – I was ranked 21,000!
Don't be in a rush to complete your team, rookies this year outscored 'premium' players throughout the season, so even though there's a stigma, they can bang out an 80. Use the looping option to gain points and save coin.
Make sure your podcasts are subscribed to The Traders and it always helps to follow Moreira's Magic's guides.
