SRP (Super Rugby Pacific) Fantasy Rugby Draft 2025

[KOB1987]

I'm just getting a bit ahead of the game here and have been pondering on a way to make the competition a bit more interesting. Firstly, aside from the 10 bucks or so we have to pay the organisers to play, what if everyone also put in another $10 to pay for a nice bottle of scotch, or a voucher or something for the winner (maybe they can choose the prize?)

I thought that rather the usual free for all, the 10 participants have an actual franchise - self picked or drawn from a hat? - and they can only field players from that franchise on game day. So for e.g. if I'm the Waratahs (which I will be!), I can only have Waratahs players in my starters, but to keep it interesting I can have players from other franchises on my bench. So what this means is that if for example Sua'ali'i is out injured indefinitely I have to make a decision to keep him on my roster, or to draft in another player and risk another participant from recruiting him so that I can't when he gets back from injury.

It would mean that we don't have to go through the draft process, instead we have a manual draft and I would have a proxy to default everyone's initial team to the starting XV for the first round. 4 x Aus teams, 5 x NZ, and 1 x combined Drua/Moana, or we just ditch Moana completely.

Thoughts?

 

[Wilson]

I don't have too many thoughts on the draft, I've never been able to free up the time at the right end of the season to participate, but there have been some rumours about a new/better offering in the fantasy super rugby space next year.

 

[Dctarget]

I'm just getting a bit ahead of the game here and have been pondering on a way to make the competition a bit more interesting. Firstly, aside from the 10 bucks or so we have to pay the organisers to play, what if everyone also put in another $10 to pay for a nice bottle of scotch, or a voucher or something for the winner (maybe they can choose the prize?)

I thought that rather the usual free for all, the 10 participants have an actual franchise - self picked or drawn from a hat? - and they can only field players from that franchise on game day. So for e.g. if I'm the Waratahs (which I will be!), I can only have Waratahs players in my starters, but to keep it interesting I can have players from other franchises on my bench. So what this means is that if for example Sua'ali'i is out injured indefinitely I have to make a decision to keep him on my roster, or to draft in another player and risk another participant from recruiting him so that I can't when he gets back from injury.

It would mean that we don't have to go through the draft process, instead we have a manual draft and I would have a proxy to default everyone's initial team to the starting XV for the first round. 4 x Aus teams, 5 x NZ, and 1 x combined Drua/Moana, or we just ditch Moana completely.

Thoughts?

I like the creativity but a tad unfair? If I got the Western Force and someone else got the Hurricanes I may as well pack up no?

 

[KOB1987]

I don't have too many thoughts on the draft, I've never been able to free up the time at the right end of the season to participate, but there have been some rumours about a new/better offering in the fantasy super rugby space next year.

Ok suggest we wait and see what that might be then. The old format was a bit stale so my idea was really just a starting point to change it up.

 

[KOB1987]

I like the creativity but a tad unfair? If I got the Western Force and someone else got the Hurricanes I may as well pack up no?

Which probably lends itself to the alternate idea of getting the participants to selecting their team(s) and maybe having a ballot within that - I'm sure a Force supporter will be happy to have the Force. We can also do things like devalue the plays that score easy points such as tries and run metres and put a greater weight on things like discipline, turnovers etc

 

[Dctarget]

Which probably lends itself to the alternate idea of getting the participants to selecting their team(s) and maybe having a ballot within that - I'm sure a Force supporter will be happy to have the Force. We can also do things like devalue the plays that score easy points such as tries and run metres and put a greater weight on things like discipline, turnovers etc

We could choose our own Aus team then be allowed 5 individual NZ players?

So, if I'm a Reds fan next year (RIP Rebels), I get to build my team from the Reds (as does any other Reds fan, so there could be 3 x McReights picked) but then I get to choose 3 or 5 unique NZ players. So only 1 x Will Jordan exists.

This might be getting convoluted though.

 

[Wilson]

Seems to me that introducing a subscribed team/declared franchise element ruins the whole point of what fantasy is - theory crafting your own perfect team within a salary cap/competitive player market. You end up in a position where the vast majority of your picks are default based on that team and there's not much room to work outside of that. Also byes will be a shitshow if you don't have 11 drafters for the 11 teams.

You could maybe add a selection policy element where each drafter's team is either in Australia (4 teams), NZ(5) or the Pacific/Barbarians(1 or 2) and teams then must be selected as 75% (or whatever makes sense) eligible for the Wallabies/NZ/Pacific teams (or just anyone not Aus/NZ if you go barbars). This sort of mirrors the current bounds that teams work in and adds a new dynamic to how players are valued (e.g. Tom Wright might only be the 3rd best fullback, but the most valuable overall because the other top 5 are kiwis), but it might be too restrictive or add too much work beyond the standard. Might also be easier to manage if instead of "Wallabies Eligible" it was "plays for an Australian super side", "plays for an NZ side", etc.

 

[Wilson]

And here it is, there's an official fantasy product this year:

Super Rugby Pacific Fantasy

The official Super Rugby Pacific fantasy competition - Pick your team for the 2025 season and compete with fans all across the globe.

www.playfantasyrugby.com

Looks like there's lots of detail still to come, but fingers crossed it's a good one. Great to see them actually making moves in this space.

 

[KOB1987]

OK so if I had just waited a day I wouldn't have even needed to send out all that stuff yesterday. I'll sign up and check it out.

 

[Derpus]

And here it is, there's an official fantasy product this year:

Super Rugby Pacific Fantasy

The official Super Rugby Pacific fantasy competition - Pick your team for the 2025 season and compete with fans all across the globe.

www.playfantasyrugby.com

Looks like there's lots of detail still to come, but fingers crossed it's a good one. Great to see them actually making moves in this space.

Finally..

 

[Derpus]

So has anyone created a comp or what?

 

[KOB1987]

There is a thread in the Discussions section, apparently the official platform gets launched tomorrow

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Not everyone's a fan...

Stuff

www.stuff.co.nz

 

[Wilson]

Things not looking good for HJH (Harry Johnson-Holmes), injured before the trial has started:

x.com

x.com

 

[Derpus]

And the front-row curse begins anew.