Bolter

Welcome back to Bolter for an all-new season! After our 2024 launch, we’re raising the stakes in 2025, bringing exciting innovations to the fantasy footy community. Get ready for fresh challenges that will put your coaching skills to the ultimate test.




WHAT IS BOLTER?




We're a new way to play fantasy. We’ve made some tweaks to the traditional fantasy games to help celebrate the best aspect of fantasy while trying to reduce the stress that may come with certain aspects of the game.



Saturday lockouts - We want you to be able to switch off and enjoy your weekend, without having to worry about late changes and adjustments!

Injury subs - In the AFL, if a player suffers an injury early in the match, their team is able to bring on a substitute. Bolter has adopted a similar system to hopefully soften the blow of an early injury to one of your players!



Flexible formation - Real-life AFL teams select 18 players in set positions and then 4 from anywhere to make their playing team of 22 - so we've done the same. 4 players in your 22 player scoring team can be selected from any position.





However, we’ve made further changes this season and we’re excited to see how they play out.







2025: WHAT’S NEW?



We’ve tried to make Botler 2025 more similar to the official format as possible, to make it easier for you to build and manage a team for both, make our inbuilt tools useful for your other teams and allow all the great content out there be relevant for Bolter.





Round 1 start - This season kicks off at Round 1, so all your pre-season research should help you build your Round 1 team (in fact, you should be able to enter your exact same starting team as your official one in one minute - so there is no excuse not to put a team in!)



$17.8m Salary Cap - We've matched the Salary Cap with that of real-life AFL teams

Familiar Player Prices - While there are a few differences, player prices should look a bit more familiar to the official version than it did in Bolter 2024 given the change of Salary Cap




But that’s not it. While keeping some things familiar, we’ve also added some exciting new gameplay twists to keep you on your toes.

TRANSFER FEES
Fantasy footy is a trading game - and we love trading. But we feel like sometimes they come with a downside:



They reduce the benefit of starting with a unique player (if they are good then everyone else jumps on the next week)

Teams become so similar with 50+ trades

Trades can become fatiguing (who actually enjoys luxury trade szn?)

How many times do your trades end up back-firing and you get instant regret?

If you forget to put your trades in one week, you're left behind



So we thought we'd change things up a bit to reward those savvy coaches who make good starting picks, eliminate the need for luxury trading and not disadvantage coaches who don't trade or might be away for a weekend during the season and allow for your fantasy team to be lower touch.





Every trade now comes with a cost: -50 points off your overall season score. The big question is—is the trade worth it?




This adds a new layer of strategy:



Will you hold injured players longer to preserve points?

Are keepers back relevant - do you pay up full price for guns knowing you’ll want them eventually and save spending 50 points later?

Do you avoid trades altogether?

Rethink luxury trades?



We can’t wait to see how you adapt to this fascinating puzzle!

We’re committed to making fantasy fun, simple, and stress-free:



TOG % thresholds to guard against season-ruining injuries.

Lockouts remain on the first Saturday game—per your feedback.

Forgot to trade? You’re covered! Save 150 points automatically.

Import your team directly from the Bolter Team Picker with one click

Magic Up tools designed to reduce your study time