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Tipping Ladder

How to set up an AFL tipping competition

Updated · 7 minute read

Setting up an AFL tipping comp takes a few minutes. The part worth thinking about is the rules, because they decide whether your comp is still being argued about in a good way in September. Here’s how to set one up for the 2027 season, what to choose, and what happens each round.

What you need

  • A name for the comp (the office, the club, the family group chat).
  • A rough idea of how many people: up to 20 is free.
  • Ten minutes to decide the rules below. You don’t need the AFL draw: it loads by itself the day it’s released, and people can join before then.

Step 1: Start the comp and choose AFL 2027

Sign in with your mobile or email (a 6-digit code, no password), choose Start a comp, give it a name and pick AFL 2027. You’re the organiser: you can add co-organisers later, and most settings can change until the season starts.

Starting a comp: the comp name, a choice of competition (BBL|16, NRL or AFL 2027 with 216 games in the draw, selected), and your name on the ladder.
Name the comp and pick the season. The whole AFL draw comes with it.

The whole season’s draw, every round and the finals, is kept up to date for you, including time and venue changes. You never type in a fixture.

Step 2: Choose your rules

Start from a preset and adjust it. For most AFL comps, Classic is right: one point for each correct tip, with a margin on the first game of the round as the tiebreaker.

The rule presets when starting a comp: Classic, Classic with jokers, Confidence, Survivor and Serious, each with a one-line description.
Start from a preset, then fine-tune.

Margins: the tiebreaker that matters in AFL

AFL scores are big and margins vary a lot, which makes the margin a very good tiebreaker. You tip how much your team wins by; at the end of the season, if two people are level on points, the one whose margins were closest in total wins. You can use it on:

  • The first game of each round (the classic, and quickest to tip);
  • Every game, for comps that want margins to count all season;
  • or no margins, where ties are split by the number of correct tips.

For a competitive comp, add an exact-margin bonus (a point or two for nailing it). The Serious preset does this, with margins on every game, a perfect-round bonus and finals worth double.

The rest of the rules

  • Draws are rare in AFL. The usual rule is that everyone who tipped the game scores; you can choose half points or nobody instead, or let people tip a draw.
  • Jokers double (or triple) a round’s points. Two a season adds strategy without letting one lucky round decide the comp.
  • Finals can count the same as the season, double or triple, or not at all if your comp ends with the home-and-away season.
  • Lockout: each game locks at its own bounce, or the whole round locks at the first game (often a Thursday night).
  • Missed tips and late joiners: decide what a missed tip scores and what someone who joins in round 5 gets for the rounds before.
The detailed rules: type of comp, points for a correct tip, what happens in a draw, margins, exact-margin bonus, when tips lock, missed tips, jokers, perfect-round bonus, finals points, late joiners and hiding tips until lockout.
Every rule in one place. Rules that change scores lock once the season starts.

Want something different? Survivor (one team a round, each team once, lose and you’re out) and Confidence (rank each game by how sure you are) come with Plus. Our footy tipping rules guide explains every option.

Step 3: Invite people

Once the comp is made you get one invite link for the season, a short code, a QR code and a ready-made invite picture. Share it in the group chat, Teams or email, or put the QR code on the fridge. People join in about 30 seconds with their mobile or email, and choose the name everyone sees on the ladder.

Add what the winner gets (bragging rights, a trophy, the Friday lunch) and a short note with your rules, and it shows on the invite and at the top of the comp all season.

Step 4: What happens each round

Tippers open the round on their phone, tap a team for each game (it fills with the club colours), add a margin where your comp uses one, and save. They can change their tips until each game locks.

Tipping AFL Round 1 on a phone: Bulldogs picked over the Crows with a 14-point margin, Eagles picked over the Lions, and a “Not saved yet, 7 still to tip” bar with a Save tips button.
Tipping a round on a phone.
  • Reminders go before lockout, only to people who haven’t tipped, by email, app or text (texts on Plus). Each tipper picks how they’d like them.
  • Lockout happens on the server at the bounce, so nobody can tip late and nobody can see anyone else’s tips until each game locks.
  • Results come in by themselves and are confirmed against a second, independent source. Anything that doesn’t match waits for a person to check.
  • The ladder updates after every game, and a round wrap email names the round winner, any perfect rounds and the biggest climber.
A comp ladder: the tipper’s position, points and correct tips, a podium for the top three, a chart of their position round by round, and the full ladder with movement arrows, margin tiebreaker, round wins and last round’s score.
The ladder updates after every game.

Three AFL setups that work

  • The office comp: Classic, a margin on the first game, two jokers, missed tips score nothing, late joiners get the round’s lowest score.
  • The family comp: Classic, no margins, missed tips count as the home team (so the kids who forget aren’t left behind), finals count the same.
  • The serious comp: the Serious preset, margins on every game with an exact-margin bonus, a perfect-round bonus and finals worth double.

Next steps

Up to 20 tippers is free for the whole season. Plus is $49 a season for up to 100, with reminder texts, survivor and confidence comps, groups and your logo. Running it at work? Read how to run an office footy tipping comp, or see AFL tipping on Tipping Ladder.