Tom Stewart after suffering an injury in Geelong's loss to Collingwood in R1, 2023. Picture: AFL Photos

THE ABILITY to reverse trades has been a key aspect of AFL Fantasy Classic for the last decade. This has evolved further in 2023 with the introduction of the 'Edit Trade' feature.

Prior to this season, once a trade has been made and when a game involving teams from one of the players in the trade commences, the trade would be locked.

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Now coaches have the ability to update a trade.

For example, Tom Stewart is injured this week and the Cats play on Thursday night. A coach may choose to trade him to Nick Daicos (playing on Saturday). After the ball is bounced on Thursday night, you can no longer reverse this trade, instead you can edit the trade by changing the player brought in for Stewart via Edit Trade.

Before Daicos plays, you can choose another player, for example James Sicily who plays on Sunday, instead of Daicos as long as the move fits under your available salary cap.

Alternatively, a coach may wish to bring in Clayton Oliver, who plays on Friday night, and is doing this by trading out Rory Laird who plays at 4:35pm AEDT on Saturday afternoon. On Saturday, the coach may change their mind on trading Laird out. Oliver will be locked in the team, but the coach can change who they're trading out (let's say Jack Macrae who plays on Saturday night). Again, as long as these moves fit under the cash available in the budget.

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This exciting development will be handy if a player you are trading in is a late withdrawal on the weekend or you change your mind on the move.

Key rules

  • If both players in the trade are locked out, you cannot edit the trade
  • If the 'Player In' of your trade is locked, you can still edit the 'Player Out'
  • If the 'Player Out' of your trade is locked, you can still edit the 'Player In'
  • If youve made two trades, or three in bye rounds, you can only edit one trade at a time
  • You cannot perform dual-position player swaps while editing a trade

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Dual-position trades

You can edit dual-position player (DPP) trades where you've shuffled a DPP, following the same rules as above. Again, you cannot perform DPP swaps while editing a trade (you’ll receive an error if you try).

For example, if you make this trade:

  • Isaac Heeney OUT
  • Stephen Coniglio moved from MID to FWD
  • Rory Laird IN

Then when editing the trade:

  • If you edit Isaac Heeney, you must select another FWD from your team to trade out
  • If you edit Rory Laird, you must select a player from the player pool with MID status

If you wanted to turn your Isaac Heeney > Rory Laird trade into Isaac Heeney > Dylan Moore, you'd need to reverse the Isaac Heeney > Rory Laird trade and start over.

Isaac Heeney marks the ball during Sydney's round one match against Gold Coast at Heritage Bank Stadium on March 18, 2023. Picture: AFL Photos

If you've made a trade where the 'Player In' is a DPP, you must select a player who can play the same position that you've traded that DPP into. Examples:

  • You trade Connor Rozee (MID/FWD) into a Midfield spot. If you decide to edit Connor Rozee and bring in a different player, they must have MID status as that's where Rozee is in your team.
    • However, let's say you already had Stephen Coniglio (MID/FWD) in your forward line too. You could go to your My Team page and substitute Rozee for Coniglio. Now, Rozee sits in your forward line. If you edit your trade now and change Rozee, you'll have have to select a player with FWD status.
  • You trade Connor Rozee (MID/FWD) into a Forward spot. If you decide to edit Connor Rozee and bring in a different player, they must have FWD status as that's where Rozee is in your team.
    • However, let's say you already had Stephen Coniglio (MID/FWD) in your midfield line too. You could go to your My Team page and substitute Rozee for Coniglio. Now, Rozee sits in your midfield line. If you edit your trade now and change Rozee, you’ll have have to select a player with MID status.

If you've made a trade where the 'Player Out' is a DPP - e.g. you've traded out Charlie Constable (DEF/MID) - then, when editing the player OUT, you can select either a DEF or a MID. This is because Constable can go back into your team to fill either of those positions.

This feature is accessible in AFL Fantasy via the website (desktop and mobile web) and will be rolled out on Android and iOS apps when approved by the App Stores.

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