Kyerin Grundy was crowned the winner of the AFL Fantasy competition. Now, he’s left reeling in a worst-case scenario after finding out he will be ineligible to claim the $70,000 jackpot. Grundy beat out more than 150,000 registered teams, totaling the most cumulative points earned all season long. For Monday morning, that was the surprise announcement that prompted his disqualification. This gut-punch announcement came the day after Fantasy season closed down for good.
Grundy, the younger brother of Sydney superstar Brodie Grundy, was a guest on the official AFL Fantasy podcast earlier this month. He reflected on his extraordinary season and pondered his odds of winning the overall big prize. During the podcast, he sounds overwrought and typically reticent, full of confidence, feeling like his mere participation meant he had played by all the competition rules. A normal mailer notified him on Thursday that he was not eligible at all. This message broke his spirit, breaking his understanding of the arbitrary rules that led to that decision.
If it weren’t for their efforts, Kyerin Grundy told me, we wouldn’t have known that I was about to win a major award. After that, no-one said a word until the terrible announcement on Monday. His statements imply poor communication from the organizers of that competition about what the eligibility requirements were.
Brodie Grundy echoed his brother’s frustrations. He acknowledged that the organizers seemed to care little about Kyerin’s victory. He asked what it would take for them to still recognize him as the winner overall. “So they’ve completely just ignored it,” he said. Beyond that, it seems like there’s been no additional recognition or celebration of his younger brother’s victory, creating feelings of neglect for both brothers.
Even Kyerin’s path to the crown took an unexpected late-season turn when he decided to add Brodie to his fantasy roster. Despite only bringing him on board towards the end of the season, Brodie has consistently been one of the best players in the game throughout his career. This personal connection under Gg’s care made the success even more poignant, and the eventual disqualification even more heartbreaking.
As of this writing, the season’s official channels have still beamed down to earth to reveal the season’s overall winner. Even now, it’s still unclear how they’ll handle future prize distribution with Kyerin having been declared ineligible. Cash prizes remain available for the top ten contestants. In the meantime, everyone who makes it into the top 100 will get a unique custom-made hat indicating the position they finished. Yet Kyerin’s situation puts a somber mood over what would’ve been a celebratory occasion.
The Competition Terms and Conditions expressly state that non-Australian eligible entrants are ineligible to win prizes. Despite this, Kyerin found out about his ineligibility issue only after winning. An article focusing on his chances of winning soon popped up on the AFL’s website. It was subsequently removed, further clouding any indication of his wellbeing.
Brodie said that it would be nice for the organizers to think of some kind of goodwill gesture, even with Kyerin’s disqualification. I figured the least they could do, and the most they would do, was make a goodwill gesture or preemptively put some action into play. Rather, it seems like we’ve all been stranded with no warning. Kyerin had pushed himself nonstop all season, and it was the collective love for AFL that drove their legs. Equally painful has been the failure to give their achievement the uplift that’s due.
Conversations around the controversy are becoming heated within the AFL community. All eyes are now upon Kyerin as he is set to become the overall winner or if someone else will usurp that title. Brodie said he was equally troubled by the lack of information. I just said, ‘I don’t even know if they’ll still call me the overall winner, or if someone else has that title now.’”
This has led to accusations of a lack of transparency, compassion, and clarity in such a massive competition like the AFL Fantasy ecosystem. No wonder fans and participants are concerned about these inconsistencies. They’re not looking for retribution, but they do care how you plan to assure similar problems don’t arise at future seasons.
