If you’ve never played Draft-style Fantasy Rugby, then there is no better time with just a matter of days until the Premiership season starts. Leagues are filling up thick and fast on Fantasy Rugby Draft so if you’ve never played, then get after it. If you’ve played Fantasy Rugby Draft for a few seasons now and know the drill, it might be time for a fresh approach to spice things up a bit, and we have that spice… Pink Slips Fantasy Rugby.
FRG caught up with Justin Vermeulen, FRD legend with 21 trophies to his name and one of the originators of one of the most brutal yet engaging formats of Fantasy Rugby I’ve ever played, Pink Slips. With the Premiership season just round the corner we discussed the format of Pink Slips Fantasy Rugby and how everybody can get involved this season.
FRG: Hi Justin, you and Carl are the originators of Pink Slips Fantasy Rugby, a brutal form of draft fantasy rugby. To start, what is Pink Slips Fantasy Rugby?
JV: Pink Slips is Fantasy Rugby Draft in crazy-mode. If Fantasy Rugby Draft was Test rugby, then Pink slips is the Fijian Rugby team. Every week, managers square up against one another (as in usual Fantasy Rugby Draft), but after the weekend’s round closes, the loser has to give up a player to the victorious manager. The victorious managers choose their new recruits, as well as who will be released from their squads to make room while the losers watch in despair (maybe even have a little cry) while their prized assets transfers to a rival teams.
FRG: How did you come up with the idea?
JV: If you are anything like me, I’m a fantasy sports enthusiast and probably play in too many FRD leagues than I should, which lead me to coming across the same managers in multiple leagues. By the time draft day came, I think we knew each others’ player selections verbatim. I began to think of a way to still play these same managers but in a different format. (The shower is where all the best trades, draft plans, and fantasy dreams are born). I was playing in golf tournament the next day and I thought it would be great to have a ‘battle golf’ day. If you’ve ever played Tiger Woods golf on Playstation, a few years back, there was a format called ‘Battle Golf’ which in short is matchplay but whoever won the hole could nominate a club the opposition could not use until they won the next hole where they could either ‘re-activate’ their club or take away one from the opposing player as well. However, there were 5 clubs you could not take as they were the ‘must haves’ in a game of golf. For example the putter. I then started thinking about my fantasy draft strategy and it hit me. This could be the different format. I took the concept and adapted it to a fantasy rugby draft matchday in a basic way and that’s when I realized the bounce of the rugby ball could be favourable to this style of fantasy game. The name Pink Slips comes from street racing (also from a game) where if you won the race, you took the ‘pink slip’ of your opponent’s car. Fantasy Rugby Draft – Pink Slips was conceived.
FRG: Have you got any tips for the Pink Slips virgin?
JV: Pink Slips is a great complimentary league to your normal FRD leagues, where your best plans and draft strategy are integral and often prepped weeks in advance. Pink slips requires short to mid term planning – there are still various strategies but chances are the player you picked first will probably not be there come mid season – nevermind the play offs!
My advice is to play aggressively with flair, run the ball from your own 22 and pick some quality with good match ups for fantasy points early. Obtaining the stronger squad for play-offs mainly comes from winning during the season, rather than on draft day, in this format.
FRG: What’s the most brutal trade you’ve ever seen?
JV: There are so many, (mainly ones I fell victim to because it still stings) but the ones that were the most brutal were probably Ngani Laumape for Reed Prinsep and Beauden Barrett for Jackson Garden-Bachop. It’s enough to make you cry yourself to sleep for a few months!
FRG: After a few seasons of private leagues, you are opening the leagues up this season with a new Divisional approach. How can fantasy players get involved?
JV: Pink Slips will expands to another division in the Premiership this season. The winner of division 2 Pinks Slips gets promoted into the 1st division and the loser in division 1 Pink Slips, will be relegated into division 2 Pink Slips the following season. We are aiming to have a Pink Slip league in every FRD rugby game released. People keen to give the brutal game ago can contact me on twitter @JustinJ25Verm or look for my Pink Slip tweets. We already have a few guys interested, so don’t delay in booking your spot!
FRG: You set the Pink Slips League up with your Fantasy Rugby Draft rival, Carl Leisegang, is that right?
JV: That is correct – since Carl has beaten me in numerous finals, I thought it best to keep my rivals close, so I presented the concept to Carl and together with his cunning mind, he helped shape the core of what Pink Slips is today. However, all the final rules and nitty gritties were formed by the original league’s managers as a whole as we approached scenarios that we could not foresee when we designed the core format. The final rules you see today were voted in and suggested by 8 other top quality fantasy rugby draft managers. You can see the Pink Slips rules on a web page that Carl kindly created for the Pink Slips format here. Lastly, Thank you FRG, Fantasy Rugby Draft and the founding fantasy managers for supporting/playing and taking an interest in the Pink Slips format. No doubt there will be many leagues and brutal trades ahead. Can you handle the carnage?
You can have a read of the full laws of the Pink Slips format here.
You can play Fantasy Rugby Draft here, learn about the Fantasy Rugby Draft Premiership game here, and follow Justin on Twitter here. If you want to play this season, then message Justin on Twitter.
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