GameDay Squad uses rolling lockouts, which is friendlier than the hard deadline you might know from other fantasy games. Each player locks one minute before their real match starts, and until then you can swap freely, even while the round is under way.
In practice that means a Thursday night horror show doesn't wreck your weekend. Anyone who hasn't played yet can still be moved.
The zero-score traps
Three ways coaches score nothing without noticing:
- A locked player swapped out (including through any app hiccup) scores zero. Once they lock, they're locked. Its in the terms and conditions that any player who has played cannot be edited, even if there is an error on gameday squads side. It may be tempting to sneak a trade in but the platform has been consistent with this so don't even bother trying.
- Inactive players always score zero. If a player is delisted, retired or has moved on, their card shows GDS-logo artwork instead of the team colours. Check before you field.
- An incomplete squad scores zero for the whole round, as covered in the squad guide.
The safety net
In AFL your round score counts your best 22 of 23, so one absent player gets dropped automatically instead of sinking you. It absorbs exactly one mistake. Two zeros and the second one counts.
When the money moves
Round results settle and prizes pay out on the Tuesday after the round: cash and packs depending on the competition tier. Season-long placings feed the bigger stuff, like Prize Card draft picks for top finishers.
That's the whole weekly rhythm. One guide left: the checklist that ties it together.