From no AFL knowledge to 810 overall

I have an interesting story to tell you, my story. As of early March 2011, I had absolutely no clue what AFL was. Sure, I had some idea merely due to the fact that you’re in Australia, but I did not give two hoots as to what it was. The extent of my knowledge was Tony Modra was an Crows legend.

However, my circle of friends comprised of a few who are massive AFL fans. Who live by it and talk about it incessantly. Needless to say, they are also massive DTers. So late last year, I decided to join their DT league to see what it is all about. I wanted to test myself to see whether,  based purely on research skills, I could survive and finish respectably. Everyone warned me that you can’t just jump into DT without any AFL knowledge whatsoever. I was optimistic.

Come the last week of March 2011 before round 1, I started my research. I downloaded the Laws of Australian Football 2011 (92 page PDF).  Bare in mind, I had no idea about AFL. I did not know what the teams are except for the main ones, I did not know any of the players.

Based on my research, looking at stats, visiting great sites like these, looking at the 2010 AFL Draft, I selected my first 22. I can still remember it – it took me 3 hours on the Saturday and 2 hours on the Sunday to sort it out.

Fast forward 21 weeks, I am now ranked 810 overall and 3rd in my league (12 wins, 3 losses). For someone who only 6 months ago, had absolutely no clue what AFL was and who has never played DT before, to now be ranked 810 (my highest ranking was last week at 643) is in anyone’s opinion, quite impressive. My aim is to finish in the top 300, which is very doable in my opinion.

It hasn’t been smooth sailing, here are some memorable obstacles along the way:

• In round 1, I lost because I did not quite understand the “emergency” system and did not realise there was a bye! I lost by about 250 points but would have won if I adjusted put the right players on the field.
• I didn’t realise this season had byes until after round 1! – for weeks I did not understand what a “follower” really does (I still don’t really know!)
• For weeks I did not understand the interchange – there were some weeks where I did not place a player on the field because they were listed as an interchange (e.g. Krakouer)
• Brad Green and Cameron Bruce as part of my starting 22
• For most of the season, when I watched AFL games, I did not recognise who the players are, I merely know their name and statistics! I had to use my Footy Live iphone/ipad app to find the player, find their number and their photo! It was frustrating!

So, what’s the moral of the story? DT glory can be done. It can be achieved by anyone, even without any background knowledge. I am a prime example of it. With research, dedication and a flexible strategy that is extremely forward looking, anyone can have DT success. Real success, not ranked 8,447 pathetic success, but meaningful top 500 success.

I wanted to share this with you because I think it gives hope to a lot of DTers out there who may be struggling or who think the top 1000 is so elusive that they’ll never reach it. Hopefully this story will show them to never give up.

Cheers, Brian.