Fantasy Rugby: Opinions Wanted

daveharnett

Hi folks,
I'm in the early stages of creating a fantasy rugby site, Initially for 6 Nations, but possibly for club tournaments too. A lot of the games I've looked at are frankly a bit rubbish. Most of them are missing at least one of the following, the worst are missing all of them:
- A proper player market, which makes you take hard choices in the selection process.
- Good players shouldn't handicapped by being in bad teams. (See Sergio Parisse for more details )
- Balanced scoring rules: Forwards should be as important as backs.
- Detailed scoring rules: take tackle counts, knock ons, scrums and lineouts won and lost (and lots more) into account when calculating player scores.
- Position specific scoring: A hooker should earn more points than an outhalf for dropping a goal.

I'd love any suggestions the good people of boards might have.
What is your favourite fantasy rugby site?
What bugs you about sites you have used?
What features would you like to see in a fantasy rugby site?

The payback for the free market research is that you might get to play a better fantasy league next year :pac:

Cheers and Thanks

barnesd

The "good players handicapped by poor teams", I agree with you but it's tricky to solve isn't it? How to you award him points if his team loses 30-0?

bleg

i wouldn't go into such detail as tackle counts and such. maybe give a player an extra point if they make, say 10 tackles. or they lose a point if the make 5 knock ons a game.


you should have to nominate just one kicker and any points from the tee should only count for that player.

man of the match should get points.
don't bother with a captain that gets double points, most people just pick the kicker anyway.

the guinness one that ran this year for the 6 nations was the best of a bad lot i think.

2040

This site is about as good as you're going to get i think. It avoids all the above problems. You should have a look. However a lot of work would go into updating it because so many different statistics are required.

I really hope there's a magners league or heineken cup fantasy league next year.

conf101

2040 wrote: »

This site is about as good as you're going to get i think. It avoids all the above problems. You should have a look. However a lot of work would go into updating it because so many different statistics are required.

I really hope there's a magners league or heineken cup fantasy league next year.

There is a fantasy magners league one for this year. Its basic enough but better than nothing. I don't think I can link it here because you have to register but a quick google of fantasy magners league should turn it up.

daveharnett

barnesd wrote: »

The "good players handicapped by poor teams", I agree with you but it's tricky to solve isn't it? How to you award him points if his team loses 30-0?

First of all, you don't dock him points for a game loss (most sites do). You don't award his rivals points for a game win. You award him points for his contributions. I think that if a player makes 20 tackles, 10 ball carries and 5 turnovers, he should do very well regardless of the scoreline.

bleg wrote: »

i wouldn't go into such detail as tackle counts and such. maybe give a player an extra point if they make, say 10 tackles. or they lose a point if the make 5 knock ons a game.

you should have to nominate just one kicker and any points from the tee should only count for that player.

man of the match should get points.
don't bother with a captain that gets double points, most people just pick the kicker anyway.

the guinness one that ran this year for the 6 nations was the best of a bad lot i think.

I would say that a lot of effort will have to go into balancing the rules, so that the 'smaller' events (tackles and such) do not overwhelm the game.

Absolutely agree with the kicker point. Otherwise a goal-kicking scrum half becomes a must-pick.

I'm still on the fence about captains (and possibly vice captains, sho would get a smaller score multiplier?)

I don't see the designated kicker as an automatic captain - I'd like kicking to be a double-edged sword. That means serious penalties for missing 'easy' kicks (say kicks between the 15M lines and in front of the 10M line).

2040 wrote: »

This site is about as good as you're going to get i think. It avoids all the above problems. You should have a look. However a lot of work would go into updating it because so many different statistics are required.

I really hope there's a magners league or heineken cup fantasy league next year.

Agree with that. Fox Oz is as good as I have seen. They only cover the super 14, world cups and (I think) the tri-nations though.


Thanks folks, keep em coming!