Will Day tackles Isaac Heeney during Hawthorn's clash against Sydney in round seven, 2024. Picture: Getty Images

AFL FANTASY will again commence in round one in 2025, a week after Opening Round, after a successful 2024 season.

With Opening Round to consist of just four games again, the Official Fantasy game of the AFL will start a week later with a full slate of nine games from March 13-16.

Opening Round has changed things for Fantasy coaches and how the game has been structured compared to the past. The usual mid-season byes are still there as per previous seasons, but a series of bye rounds for teams participating in Opening Round will occur over rounds two, three and four.

The Fantasy Classic competition will commence from round one. Fantasy Draft leagues can play Opening Round, but there is plenty of flexibility (see details below).

Commissioners can choose to not play through byes for their leagues, but this will only impact the mid-season byes. All leagues will play through the early byes, so get planning.

Dual-position player updates will occur after rounds six, 12 and 18.

Some tweaks specific to Classic and Draft are outlined below.

Fantasy Classic

More than 170,000 coaches participated in Fantasy Classic last season, competing with others for overall prizes and bragging rights in tens of thousands of leagues.

Our salary cap-based game will tackle the early byes by implementing the familiar best 18 rule. That is, the highest 18 scores from your on-field 22 will count towards your weekly score.

Tristan Xerri and Rowan Marshall in action during the match between St Kilda and North Melbourne at Marvel Stadium in round eight, 2024. Picture: AFL Photos

This is how the mid-season byes are treated, but only two (2) trades can be made during the early byes. Coaches can make three (3) trades throughout the mid-season byes.

Prices will not change between Opening Round and round one. Scores from players who participated in Opening Round will impact their price movements after round one. This, along with timing of bye rounds for certain players, will dictate some strategy with initial team selection.

Early byes

  • Rounds two, three, four
  • Best 18
  • Two (2) trades
  • Leagues play head-to-head match-ups as normal

Mid-season byes

  • Rounds 12, 13, 14, 15, 16
  • Best 18
  • Three (3) trades
  • Leagues can choose to turn off match-ups for these five rounds

Pricing

  • Player prices won't change after Opening Round, but breakevens will update
  • Player prices will change for the first time after round one
  • If a player played in Opening Round or round one, or both, their price will change after round one

Fantasy Coach subscribers will have access to the Early Bye Detector to help with their planning before it switches to mid-season bye mode after round six.

Fantasy Draft

The game that is continuing to grow year-on-year is Fantasy Draft, where every player is unique. It has a significant amount of customisation that allows you to play the way you want.

Leagues will be able to draft from mid-February, including during the March long weekend when the Opening Round is being held. Leagues can commence from Opening Round if they wish, but if you want to avoid the early byes, you could choose to begin your head-to-head match-ups at round five.

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The flexibility is yours.

There are several options to help your league cope with the bye rounds.

Play it as normal – Players on a bye? So what! Use your bench to cover for them or hit up available free agents. Leagues may opt to add an extra couple of bench spots for 2025. Drafting strategy may change slightly as you may want to avoid having too many players from one bye round.

Minimise number of on-field scorers – In Fantasy Classic we have best 18, in Draft you could choose to make it your best 'whatever'. For example, if you're running with a 5-7-1-5 structure, you may choose to have the best 15 scorers rather than the 18 that are taken in full rounds. When setting up your league, you can adjust the Bye round squad size, so only a certain number of players count towards a team's score.

Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera in action during the R2 match between St Kilda and Collingwood at the MCG on March 21, 2024. Picture: Getty Images/AFL Photos

One of the features added to Fantasy Draft via the Deluxe Subscription is to Edit Match Results. This could be an opportunity for commissioners to think outside of the square for their leagues, especially in Keeper Leagues where the luck of the draw may not have worked in your favour.

The ability to edit match results will be opened up for all Draft leagues to use for free throughout the early byes. After round five it will only be available as part of the subscription package.

Some options to consider editing scores:

Apply Opening Round scores – Commissioners can calculate what a team's score would've been if an Opening Round player's bye zero was replace by their first game score.

Apply season average as bye scores – A throwback to Corona-ball where averages of players were applied during 2020 due to the ever-changing nature of the fixture. Commissioners can calculate scores based on a bye player's average score.

Whatever you choose, commissioners will need to make sure everyone in your league knows the rules before the season starts. They'll also need to be prepared to get the calculator out and work out scores before applying them via the Edit Match Scores in the settings.