Draft Date: February 26th Draft Time: 1pm AEDT
A new season is upon us, and with the merger of the Injustice and Dirt Leagues at the conclusion of the 2022 season, we have become a big 18-team league permanently for the first time. The last time the league had 18 teams proved to be a great success, especially for Gavin who came away with his first and only premiership.
We always try to spice things up in the Injustice League, however, so there are some rule changes to be aware of for the 2023 season. Don’t worry, still less rule changes than an average AFL season though.
The waiver system will work as it always has in previous years, with a ‘last pick to bottom’ ordering system. However, for the first time ever, the commissioner is able to manually reorder the waiver order for any round. This functionality has been enabled (and will only be used) to grant the ability for teams to trade their positions on the waiver wire either individually or in conjunction with player trades. Player trades, as always, must be approved by the commissioner, and therefore if a waiver trade is also included in this trade, both parties should agree in Messenger conversation with the commissioner (Shay) beforehand.
We’re taking a page out of the SuperCoach Classic book this season when it comes to bye rounds. For this season, during each of the bye rounds, only the highest scoring 11 players (rather than all 18) for each team will have their scores counted towards that team’s total. This should narrow the gaps seen during the bye rounds and end some of the more one-sided affairs. It also, sadly, makes the league far more ‘just’, for everyone who isn’t Rob, that is.
Last time we played with 18 teams, we had a normal 4 man bench. Last year, back to a 10 man league, we trialled having a 5 man bench. The idea was to promote speculative picks and to lessen the pain of having 2 rucks. Well, it’s a new year, and we’re not done experimenting, so in a move that is destined to be widely unpopular across the board, this year there are only going to be THREE bench spots per team. Yes, you can’t even have 1 bench spot per position on the ground. And with 18 teams and 18 players on the ground, we’re going to scraping the bottom of the barrel quite badly once again, just as we were in 2021. Only this time, we have less players to fall back on.
This is intended to promote trading between teams. The luxury of holding on to injured players for extended periods has become harder to afford, and having multiple injuries in the same position on the ground might be untenable and require trading. Or you could just hold on and hope for the best.
Looking forward to seeing you (in person or virtually - see the Facebook invite for details) at the draft!