How To Win a DT League

People play Dream Team for various reasons. They may have played it for years and live for it.  They may have heard others in the office talking about it and decided to give it ago.  They may play it so every game of the weekend has a bit of interest (yes, even the GWS games).  No matter what your motivation, one thing has probably become clear by now.  You are either in the top 1-2% of coaches and a decent chance of winning overall or you’re not.  If you are like most of us and can’t beat everybody, all is not lost.  It is ok to simply concentrate on a league and try to take it out. If you concentrate on winning a league, a whole new strategy comes into play with your trades and what you should do week to week.  Below is some advice on how to win a league.

First of all, you might be in multiple leagues.  This can become confusing if you want to win.  I suggest concentrating on one league only.  Pick a league that is either filled with most of your mates or a league you think you have a decent shot at winning.  Keep an eye on the other leagues you are in, but don’t worry if you lose – you have a goal and that it to win a specific league.  Who knows – you might fluke a second premiership too!

OK – now you have a league that you want to win.  Your next goal is to make the finals.  The higher you finish, the more likely you are to qualify for the double chance.  However, DT is different to regular football and teams that qualify for the double chance do have a tendency to lose both of their finals.  The reason?  They have burnt trades to get into a high position and will have to play 0’s in the finals.  This will get you beaten.

So we want to qualify for finals but have trades up our sleeve.

To make the finals, you need to win more games than you loose.  Have a look at the average scores of your league and see who you realistically think you can beat already.  If your squad is stronger than theirs, you won’t need to trade when you take them on.  Even if you have injuries, if your remaining squad is stronger than theirs, you can save that trade for later in the season.

The Dream Team website show you who you are about to take on.  If you click on their name you can see their entire squad.  Make an informed judgement – can I beat this team or not.  If I make a trade, have I more of a chance of winning, or will they beat me anyway?  If they will beat you anyway, don’t waste a trade – you don’t have to win every game, just enough to qualify for the finals.

To win a league, I advise only using trades when you have long term or season ending injuries or when it will make a potential loss into a guaranteed win.

Remember – the longer the season goes, the shorter the amount of time to recover.  If a player get a 5 week injury in week 20, it means that they won’t play for you again that season.  If it happens in round 10, different story.

Entering finals, it is ideal to have as close to 8 trades left – this leaves you 2 trades a week during the final series.  There is an element of risk here too.  If your team qualifies 8th and fails to win, you are out of the league with 6 trades in the bank.  I say this is a risk worth taking.

Remember, other players you are playing won’t have the same motivation, and have probably used all their trades in order to stay a highly ranked team.  If they have used all their trades when it is time to play them in the finals, odds are you can field a stronger team.

So remember these rules: trade only when you have to.  If it’s an “8 point” game and will make a big difference to your team consider it.  Pick the teams you can beat, pick the teams that you can’t and don’t waste futile trades.  Qualify for the finals and then wow the opposition with some monster trades at finals time!

Keep up to date with Dream Team websites for trade targets so you make the right trades when it matters.

Good luck with your league!

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