Well unlike previous seasons I actually spent some time devising my initial squad and tinkered with it about half a dozen times to see where I can improve.
I’ve read around other sites online and now got a much better feel of how to play this game. It seems my approach is a little different to others which this season will show if my approach has some merit or ditch it for new approach next time I play fantasy footy.
My theory is positional flexibility of squad throughout whole season is important and this means I heavily favour players with dual position options.
Most other coaches seem to focus on scoring averages almost exclusively and give lip service to flexibility in squad. But with 30 players only in squad and limited trades having flexible players seems a high priority to structure of my list to me.
Injury rates I consider 1 in every 6 players going to be unavailable in any week. This means a squad of 30 most weeks going to be reduced to 25 players to chose from. This leaves little room for back up so the players I have in my team I prefer to be able to have multiple positions.
Of course not every players needs to be have dual position attributes but I think it is super important to maximise scoring of team each week. I don’t see much point in having 6 players in midfield and all can only be chosen in midfield. I want atleast half my players dual position types to give me flexibility to cover for the injuries and suspensions that all part of the challenge to managing a team list throughout the season. As a result, I’ve gone very big on picking players into my squad that can play defense/ midfield or forward/midfield and not even looked at pure defenders or forwards unless their scoring is pure fantasy football gold. If a player average 105 in midfield but can only play there and an alternative player for that position averages 100 but can play midfield or defense then I will pick the dual position player almost every time. My squad is littered with dual position players and I suspect it will help me cover injuries much better than many other coaches.
I’ve gone for the Adam Goodes, Nathan Fyfe types to be the main part of my opening season midfield rather than choosing pure midfielders in my initial squad. We shall see if this works for me or is my undoing. Most of the gun midfielders are simply midfield position players only and a few of those I aim to acquire as the season moves on to develop my list into a champion fantasy team. But at beginning of season with so many untested players we need to have under salary cap I don’t think I can have the luxury of mutliple gun midfielders that cannot play anywhere else. My premium players at start of season I want to be able to cover bases where rookie players are not reliable performers yet.
It seems like the art of when to trade players is really the key to being a great fantasy football coach. That is the art I wish to develop as the rounds roll on.
Bring on the season and may the best trader win 
