PRIMARILY, AFL Fantasy Classic was the league that bonded our friendship group in the Fantasy footy-sphere.

In the last few years the Fantasy Draft league has been become the league that has created the most banter and a day that we look forward to each year; Draft Day.

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This year, we have added a Keeper League to our stable of teams.

As a new feature for AFL Fantasy, we wanted to have a crack but it has also been something we have talked about for a long time. Finally, we have our chance!

After setting up a new WhatsApp group (a new concept for a couple of our older mates, but they’re well and truly entrenched in it with overuse of these new things called gifs), we negotiated our settings and started drafting as soon as we could.

Here’s a look at the journey of the Bacon Cup Keeper League.

Key league settings

Season settings – Eight coaches playing each other twice before a Top 4 finals series. We’ll take a break through the bye rounds and have the rolling lockout on.

Lineup settings – Squads of 30 consisting of 5 DEF, 7 MID, 1 RUC, 5 FWD with 12 interchange players. Captains are on as well as DPP additions. We’re testing the new Emergency TOG threshold setting with 25% to counter for those injuries early in games.

STARTING A KEEPER LEAGUE? Important settings to consider

Other settings – The draft itself is a slow draft with 24 hours allowed per pick. Starting with around four weeks until the start of the season, we have plenty of time to get it done in between work and wrangling kids. We’ve also decided that we will keep 14 of the 30 players we draft for next season, some big decisions on that will be made prior to the 2022 season.

Coaches' strategy and squads so far

The first 10 rounds have been completed and teams are being shaped with most squads having players selected in each line.

The Manzacs (coached by Brett) – Pick 1
Runs more spreadsheets for Fantasy footy than he does at work and suggested straight up that our entry fee is put into crypto-currency. Brett is the unofficial commissioner of the league having the biggest influence on rules and with the No.1 pick and being on the turn, has a big say in the way the draft plays out. More than half of Brett’s squad is 23 or under and judging by some of his smug comments in the group chat, he’s happy with where he’s at..

DEF: Jordan Ridley (32), Alex Witherden (33)
MID: Josh Kelly (16), Tim Taranto (17), Brad Crouch (48), Bailey Smith (64), Adam Cerra (65)
RUC: Brodie Grundy (1)
FWD: Toby Greene (49), Jack Higgins (80)
INT: Nil.

BEATBOX14 (coached by Matt) – Pick 2
We first met Matt at uni when he was a mature-age student at the ripe old age of 21. As 18-year-olds, we thought he was super old with all of his experience. While he’s been a long-time player of Fantasy Classic, Matt has struggled in the Bacon Cup draft league and doesn’t always learn from the mistakes he’s made. However, he’s building a well-balanced group including a walk-up captain in Clayton Oliver for quite a few years.

DEF: Zac Williams (50), Jack Lukosious (63)
MID: Clayton Oliver (2), Lachie Hunter (31), Caleb Serong (34), Andrew McGrath (47), Jarryd Lyons (79)
RUC: Rowan Marshall (18)
FWD: Josh Dunkley (15), Tom Phillips (66)
INT: Nil.

destROY (coached by Roy) – Pick 3
Social media is buzzing with how Roy is drafting, and rightly so. It’s a youth policy at destROY and will have close to an optimal midfield with No. 1 picks in Sam Walsh and Matt Rowell leading the pack for the next decade. The Blues should have listened to the many emails he sent the club 20 years ago about their list management. Roy is creating a dynasty.

DEF: Jake Lloyd (3), Sam Docherty (62), Luke McDonald (67), Hunter Clark (78)
MID: Sam Walsh (16), Matt Rowell (19), Patrick Cripps (30), Hugh McCluggage (51)
RUC: Nil.
FWD: Connor Rozee (35), Zak Butters (46)
INT: Nil.

Warne Dawgs (coached by Warnie) – Pick 4
I’m stuck in a bit of no-mans-land with a pick in the middle of the draft. Often I draft conservatively. That is, follow the trends, never one to start a run. I don’t like to be burned. There are a few regrets early on, including thinking I’d get one of Walsh or Rowell in the third round and possibly drafting Tim English too early in order to put an end to Roy stockpiling all of the young talent. Hopefully the punting forwards strategy pays off.

DEF: Dan Houston (45), Jayden Short (52), Liam Duggan (61), Jordan Dawson (68)
MID: Zach Merrett (4), Jack Steele (13), Andrew Gaff (20), James Worpel (29)
RUC: Tim English (36)
FWD: Jack Martin (77)
INT: Nil.

Merv Gray Autos (coached by Chook) – Pick 5
As the founder of the infamous Dream Team Talk blog, Chook has been a big player in Fantasy and enjoys drafting. Selecting a couple of veterans early on dictated his strategy and Chook is going all-in on winning this year. A sneak peek into his 11th round pick… the 31-year-old Fantasy Pig Tom Rockliff.

DEF: Rory Laird (12), Callum Mills (37), Callum Mills (37), Christian Salem (76)
MID: Christian Petracca (21), Andrew Brayshaw (44)
RUC: Max Gawn (5)
FWD: Dustin Martin (28), Kyle Langford (53), Zac Bailey (60), Ben Ainsworth (69)
INT: Nil.

Calvinator (coached by Calvin) – Pick 6
Going into this draft, I’m not sure Calvin grasped the concept of a keeper league. That is, thinking about the future. He got excited by the big names that were at the top of the list with little regard for their age. In saying that, it’s a strong list and should challenge for an early flag… but knowing what players will be available in the latter rounds, hopefully Calvin does some research.

DEF: Lachie Whitfield (6), Nick Haynes (54), Luke Ryan (59)
MID: Matt Crouch (11), Marcus Bontempelli (22), Adam Treloar (27), Stephen Coniglio (43)
RUC: Nil.
FWD: Steele Sidebottom (38), Michael Walters (70), Gryan Miers (75)
INT: Nil.

The Soup Nazis (coached by Stu) – Pick 7
Previous winner of the single-season Bacon Cup Draft league, Stu is a professional Fantasy player but is coming off his shortest pre-season (the draft was brought forward a few days because everyone was keen to get it started). The highlight so far was Stu’s picks from rounds three to six where he grabbed four Pies, hoping for some kick-to-kick as part of the highest scoring Fantasy team of the last few years.

DEF: Jack Crisp (23), Brayden Maynard (39), Hayden Young (58)
MID: Tom Mitchell (7), Jack Macrae (10), Taylor Adams (26), Noah Anderson (55), Tim Kelly (74)
RUC: Nil.
FWD: Jordan De Goey (42), Shai Bolton (71)
INT: Nil.

Girth Control (coached by Adrian) – Pick 8
In between brewing beer, Adrian started building his squad by jumping across the four positions by starting with some established stars and investing in youth. This looks to be one of the most balanced sides on paper, helped by being able to take his picks on the turn, which only once saw players from the same position taken back-to-back.

DEF: Tom Stewart (24), Caleb Daniel (41), Jack Scrimshaw (72)
MID: Lachie Neale (8), Jy Simpkin (56), Josh Daicos (57)
RUC: Reilly O’Brien (9)
FWD: Patrick Dangerfield (25), Isaac Heeney (40), Nick Blakey (73)
INT: Nil.

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Stay tuned for the remaining 20 rounds and a wrap up of each of the coaches’ squads.

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