My Guide to being a Coach ( Simming every match )

[Badger]

Kinda thought I'd throw this up for people like me who enjoy the Management side of things without having to play every match. ( I own the PS4 version, But I posted this to Reddit and thought I'd help out my Steam buddies too! )

1 Picking a Team. Pick a team with low expectations. Generally in your first year, You struggle a fair bit so picking a team that only wants you to not finish last makes things a bit easier. I recommend Gold Coast or Brisbane ( I've had great success with both )

If you do decide to pick a better team, Make sure you at least make the finals. If not, you WILL be sacked at the end of the season. ( Even if they demand a Grand Final appearance, Generally you'll keep your job if you make it into the Finals itself ).

2 Sponsorship: Pick Safe to start off with. Once your team gets better you can have a play with Bonus or Challenge.

3 Staff Management: Set all of them at 7 or 8 to start with. Once your popularity increases you can bump them to a solid 10 without worrying about money ( Or the board hounding you ).

4 Setting your team up: Play your best 22 ( Especially for the first few seasons ). But play them in their intended positions to get their full points ( Obviously the bench doesn't matter, just play the best of whoever is leftover ). The AI have this weird thing where they play A LOT of people out of position ( Who knew Taylor Walker could be a ruckman? ) Use this to your advantage.

Also I'll add to check your team EVERY week before the match, For some reason, Even if you have it set to manually set the team, The AI will change your team around. ( Especially start of a new season! )

5 Dealing with Injuries and Suspensions: First off two things: First, Always plead guilty. It takes a week off the suspension and it has basically no risk. Appealing has the chance to increase the duration ( You could appeal the one-week bans but I think it's risky and gives the future player valuable game-time ). Secondly, Always take injured players to the Hospital. Yes, It takes longer for them to recover but it also decreases the recurrence of injuries. Trust me it's better in the long run.

Managing your team can be quite difficult if you have a lot of Injuries/Suspensions/Both. I tend to ' blood ' the younger players that will eventually take over from the players who are out ( They skill up quite quickly ). Sometimes if say half your backline is decimated it isn't really all that wise to play a full ' rookie ' replacement backline. If it happens try to make the best combination of youth v experience you can, But keep in mind that players that aren't suited to those positions will take a rating hit.

6 Skilling up Players: First off, NEVER set auto training, Do it all Manually! Second, Check the ' Training ' tab after EVERY match! Sometimes you can miss a player so even if it's a bye round it's good to double-check everyone is trained.

Thirdly, Focus on their position-centric skills first, I tend to get their first 'star' skill to 99 and then move onto the next etc etc, Although I think that an even distribution would work too. Once all their 'star' skills are at 99 just start hitting whatevers left, It really doesn't matter.

7 End of season, Stay or go?: Stay, Always stay. Otherwise you'll have to start basically from the beginning again. ( Unless your like me and won 7 premierships in 10 years and want a new challenge )

8 Re-signing players: Re-signing players has a fair bit to it.... So I'll do it in tip form.

8A: Always re-sign for 5 years. There's absolutely NO point in doing anything less. You will get them cheaper for longer.

8B: Get them as cheap as possible: Unlike FIFA. You can keep negotiating in AFL Evolution. They won't get ' disheartened ' or anything like that. They want 500k a year? Start at 300k and work your way up until they accept.

8C: Always re-sign your best players FIRST!: Rookie players ( less than 70 ) can be replaced easily, 90 rated ones cannot. Unless they are retiring always re-sign from best to worst.

8D: Re-sign when their contract is up: This one is optional but I think it makes it a little easier to manage. If you have already re-signed all the players you need to and have room left in the Cap you could re-sign star players but I like to keep that room for when I need it.

8E: Can't re-sign and they aren't retiring? TRADE!: If you find you don't have room in the Cap to re-sign a good player, Trade them. Even though their contract is up there's no such thing as Free Agency in AFL Evolution. So you can trade uncontracted players to other clubs.

9: Trading Players: There will be times where you can't afford everybody in your team ( Basically when your best 22 are all 80+ ) So you will need to trade some of them out ( Also in your first season you'll find you have too many players for one position and possibly too few for other ones ). First off, Always trade for Draft Picks. If you've blooded your team properly, This is the only thing you should trade for. Here's a rough trading guide to what picks you can get:

90+: Low first round. ALWAYS go for the team who finished last, They'll have Pick 1 plus you can take ALL of their first 4 draft picks and they will accept the trade.

85+: Low first round. Sometimes the bottom team will give up Pick 1 for them but it's not 100% guaranteed. Should be good for clubs that have anywhere from Pick 1-5, Plus you should be able to get their best other three Picks.

80+ Mid to High first round, Although sometimes Low second. This tends to vary A LOT, just shop him/her around for the best deal.

75+: Second-Third round, Likewise with 80+ It tends to vary. Once again shop them around till you find the best deal.

70+: Anywhere from Third-Fifth round, Yep, Varies. Shop 'em! I've found that ruckmans that are 70+ go for less than anyone who plays any other position ( Probably because they start with higher stats ).

65+: Fifth ( If your lucky ) more than likely Sixth round, Doesn't vary as much but yeah, don't expect miracles.

Less than 65: Sixth round, Possibly nothing. Generally if you have a player thats less than 65 you'll get MAYBE a sixth, If you've got a few, Bundle them together. Clubs will be more likely to trade then.

10 Drafting: Like re-signing there's a bit to this so I'll tip it again!

10A: How many players do I need?: I go for 2 players for every position. One in the best 22 and One for the ' future '. Anything more just costs you more money salary cap-wise. There will be times where ( for example ) both your Centre Half Backs are out but it happens so rarely that it's not worth having 3 for every position.

10B: How do I know what players I need?: In the trading screen BEFORE the draft and AFTER you have FINISHED doing all the trades/re-signing you need to. Go to that screen and sort your players by position, Grab a notepad or your phone and list every position you don't have 2 players for. These are the gaps you need to fill in the Draft.

10C: Always select Manual Pick: I don't even think I need to explain why you should do this, Just do it!

10D: Getting the best players: Once it's your turn, Sort the players by POSITION ( It's very important that you do this ). Lets say you're after a Full Forward, Go down until you hit the Full Forwards and you'll see something like this:

NAME: POSITION: AGE: RATING: POTENTIAL:

bla1 FF 18 48 53
bla2 FF 28 54 73
bla3 FF 17 45 94
bla4 FF 30 49 98
bla5 FF 21 53 78
bla6 FF 20 51 67

What you want is the BEST Potential ( Potential effects how fast they level up, not their rating ceiling. So a player with low Potential can still reach the 90s but will take longer to do so ) versus Age, So although ' Bla4 ' ( Creative name right? ) has a Potential of 98, He's too old to be of any real use. By the time he gets any good, he'll be retiring. You want ' Bla3 ' Although his starting rating is low, He's gonna level up fast. With one full season he'd probably be in the 70s by the end of it.

10E: Skip Picks you don't need: Filling up with players that you don't need is pointless and just adds to your salary cap. You'd just have to end up trading them off and they'll receive little to no gametime so they won't be worth anything to trade. Just skip them.


So that's the end of my guide. I think? I've remembered everything! If not, Shoot me a question and I'll answer it.

I honestly think this is the best mode to come out of AFL Evolution and I hope this has been of some help!

EDIT: The Table doesn't look great, But you get the idea..

[Pizza Time]

I know I’m a bit late but found this really helpful. I was just wondering if there are any particular settings you always use in coach mode to make it more realistic?

[Badger]

In what way?