REDRAFT

WHAT IS REDRAFT?

What is Redraft?

Redraft (often just called Draft in Australia) is a Fantasy Football format where each coach selects their own unique team of players in a live draft before the season begins. Unlike Classic, no two teams can own the same player—once a player is drafted, they’re off the board. Above, you can see the results of our 2025 Home League draft, completed on Keeper Fantasy.

How Does It Work?

After draft day, the season plays out with weekly team management. Coaches can:

Use the Waiver Wire – This is the pool of unowned players, also called Restricted Free Agents (RFAs). To pick one up, you drop someone from your squad and lodge a claim. If multiple coaches want the same player, priority rules decide who gets them.
Trade – Swap players with other coaches. Smart traders consider form, injuries, role changes, stats, and fixtures when making moves.

Unique Positions in Redraft

FLEX (AFL Fantasy) / UTILITY (Keeper Fantasy): A “wildcard” spot on field that can be filled by any DEF, MID, FWD or DPP.
FLEX (Keeper Fantasy): In Keeper Fantasy, this position differs from AFL Fantasy, in that it offers the same flexibility, but excludes RUCs.
IR (AFL Fantasy) / IL (Keeper Fantasy): Special bench slots for injured players. This allows you to stash someone like Tristan Xerri if he’s sidelined, freeing your bench for an active player without losing him to waivers.

Why Play Redraft?
Many new coaches assume Redraft is simpler than Classic—but the best coaches know success comes from sharp drafting, shrewd trading, and staying active on waivers.

WHAT ARE THE COMMON MISTAKES?

Treating it as a drafting game, when it is really a trading game.

There is no doubt Draft Day is incredible fun. However, many coaches get so caught up in obsessing over the draft, and then over how the team they've constructed is the best team in the world, they forget the team they draft doesn't have to be the team they finish the season with. Redraft is not Best Ball and it does require effort to be fun. This is why we TRADE. Leagues that don't trade are leagues devoid of fun. For this reason, leagues of strangers rarely work and it is vital to have a group chat and ways to DM other league mates to hold trade negotiations and help one another find value. Be strong. Be bold. Trade your way to a flag!

Creating a league that is too shallow or too deep.

Fielding 18 players with a bench of 5 may sound like fun because it represents a "real" AFL lineup, but this hasn't been our experience. Admittedly, this mistake is subjective, but we find leagues who draft more than 16 players (e.g. field 11, bench 5) tend to be quite...bland. This is because coaches are forced to use players who have little or no value, and are therefor unhelpful in trade negotiations. It also means the Waiver Wire is devoid of anybody you would actually want, and so little engagement follows. Similarly, leagues that are too shallow tend to lack a certain level of skill or strategy, as every team is stacked to the brim with talent.

Our suggested roster settings are:
3 DEF | 4 MID | 1 RUC | 3 FWD | 1-2 UTIL/FLEX | 4 BENCH | 1 IL/IR

Using overall rankings to draft instead of TIERED RANKINGS.

I get the logic of using overall rankings: we want the best players on our teams. The problem is, rankings are an imperfect science and no one person will agree on them. What is more helpful is splitting your rankings into positional lists and dropping groups of players within each list into 'buckets' or TIERS. They can still be ranked, but the idea is that all of the 'Tier 1 Midfielders' should theoretically score about the same points. So, if for example you're sitting in pick 10 of 12 and you're deciding between the last Tier 1 Midfielder and one of the four Tier 1 Defenders, you would draft the midfielder because the likelihood that one of those Tier 1 Defenders drops back to you in 4 more picks is much higher than the Midfielder dropping.

But...who has time to create ranks and tiers and all that nonsense? Well...WE DO! And we're sharing them with you...FOR FREE!

TIERED RANKINGS: Click here to access our top-50 rankings in positional categories, plus our tiered top-175 overall rankings.

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