Finalise your team
Due to this week being a partial lockout because of tonight's Carlton and Richmond game, your team has to be fully finalised and hold 33 players, by the start of the Geelong v St Kilda match at 7.45pm on Friday. However, if you wish to have any Carlton or Richmond players in your squad, they have to be locked in by 7.40pm on Thursday.
After this time, when the first ball is bounced for season 2011, you will have to keep those Tigers or Blues players where you had them. Friday night lockout means you can have a look over the team squads published exclusively on afl.com.au on Thursday at 5pm AEDT before you pick your final squad to take into season 2011.
Private leagues
Private leagues will need 16 sides before lockout on Friday night. The 16 teams need to be full teams - that is, they need to have 33 players before they enter the season or else they will be replaced by teams from public leagues. The league fixtures will be released on Saturday morning.
Running late?
If you miss out on making your team before the first-round lockout, don't stress: you can still play a part in this year's Dream Team competition. You might be a little bit behind, but any team entered after round one is still eligible to take home the mighty Toyota FJ Cruiser as the competition's major prize. Teams created after lockout will be entered in public leagues.
Team announcements
With the Carlton and Richmond teams already available, the rest of the team line-ups will be made available exclusively on afl.com.au every Thursday night at 5pm AEDT. This is the first place to get your team news for your Dream Teams, so log on and make sure you carefully go through the teams to confirm all of your players are in their respective sides.
Substitutes
If the Doctor had a free trade for every time he's been asked about the substitute, then I reckon I'd be at very short odds to win this year's competition. But anyway, we'll make this clear for a final time before the season starts tonight: each team in 2011 has three players on the bench, and one substitute.
The three will have as much involvement in the game as anyone else, but the sub can only come on the ground when another player is subbed off.
This means it's likely the two players involved in the sub transaction - the player who goes on the ground and the player who goes off the ground - will probably only score around half the points another player might. What makes things harder is that the substitute only has to be named 90 minutes before the game, so we'll generally only know the sub for the Friday night match before lockout, although this week we'll also know tonight's substitute before lockout.
Last notes
- Make sure you have a full squad of 33 players and you click the 'Save' button before logging out.
- Pick a captain and vice-captain for your squad.
- Make your emergencies. You can select three emergencies and their scores will count towards your overall team scores if any of your best 22 pulls out late or doesn't get picked.
- Remember that Gold Coast isn't playing until round two, so pick your side to make sure you have cover for your Suns players this week.
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs
