Toyota award a car for the ‘unlucky’ joint winner of AFL Fantasy

In what was amazing scenes last Sunday, last year’s winner Selby Lee-Steere, coach of Moreira’s Magic, held onto a lead in the overall standings of AFL Fantasy Classic from round 22 and was looking to take out the competition for a second year running.

Chasing him down was James Robinson’s team Shuey’s Shockers.

James had Seb Ross in play in the last round of the season after making the ballsy move to trade out Tom Mitchell for the Saint ball-magnet. Ross needed fewer than 122 points for Selby to go back-to-back, but history now states that he scored 122 and both Selby and James finished the 2018 season with 51,308 points.

The ‘count back’ to determine the overall winner is based on who registered for the competition first. Selby and James signed up on the opening day, 24 January, but James pipped him by a few hours. This means that James is ‘officially’ the winner for AFL Fantasy Classic 2018 (T&Cs, legals, etc meant that this had to be the case).

On Sunday night the wheels (pardon the pun) were put into motion to work out exactly what could be done here. The team at Telstra worked incredibly hard for an outcome that would please all-comers. On Thursday it was announced that Toyota would award Selby a Corolla Hybrid separate to his his second place prize of $10K as a gesture of goodwill. James drives away in a Toyota Koba C-HR.

You may remember that Selby created and sold a spreadsheet in the preseason. This document full of his tips and secrets to winning raised a cool $6,500 for the Starlight Children’s Foundation. Not just a gun at Fantasy, a bloody top bloke.

Good karma is definitely a factor here for the Fantasy champ.

With AFL Fantasy, we made a Starlight wish a reality. Thanks to the legends who got involved in this initiative and the bigger legends who make this foundation happen ? pic.twitter.com/bTr4kNiNuC

— Moreira’s Magic (@moreira_magic) April 10, 2018

Selby has already suggested that the extra prize money will be a good kick start to his Starlight pledge for next season.

Oh what a feeling! Thanks to @Toyota_Aus & @AFLFantasy ? and congrats again to @Shueys_Shockers. The extra prize ? will be a good kick start for the MM’s @Starlight_star pledge in 2019. Stay tuned. https://t.co/fIH0LLOAt1

— Moreira’s Magic (@moreira_magic) August 30, 2018

Moving forward, there will most likely be a rule change for the unlikely occurrence of a draw at the top of the overall rankings. Rather than going on the ‘who registered first’ rule which has apparently been in place for around 15 years, there will be a variety of alternative moves suggested. Maybe it goes on the highest individual weekly score of the season? Or who was the higher ranked leading into the final round? Maybe it is the average overall rank for the season? Post your thoughts in the comments below.

Hear from James and Selby on the season finale and Mad Monday episode of the Official AFL Fantasy podcast below.