The man, the myth, the legend. That’s “Millto79” who on Saturday night took out the Draftstars 2023 AFL Star for a cool $200,000 cash prize, the Richest Fantasy prize in Australia for AFL. But who is “Millto79”? Is he some obscure player that the Draftstars community haven’t seen? Or just an AFL Draftstars guru? Well, we reach out to the man of the moment and asked him a few questions about his success. And it is quite a story!
Congratulations Tom (Millto79)! Where are abouts are you from and what do you do for a profession?
I live in Kyneton Victoria and I am the EGM – Operations for Quayclean. We are a national cleaning and waste services provider servicing some of Australia’s premier public venues and stadiums including the SCG, Marvel Stadium, Optus Stadium, Adelaide Oval, the Gabba.
So if anyone needs a good cleaning company reach out haha!
How did you get into playing Daily Fantasy Sports?
Always loved playing fantasy sports mainly with the AFL and NBA. Fantasy NBA helped me develop a love for the sport and Kevin Love’s double doubles is the reason I became a really big Minnesota Timberwolves fan. Go Wolves!
How long have you been playing on Draftstars?
Have been playing Draftstars for about 4 years and together with 2 of my best mates since primary school, Adam and Tom, we started a bit of a punters club putting on sports multi’s, some horse racing bets and trying to win a golden ticket to have a crack at the big AFL Star prize money on offer and share the prize if one of our teams got in, this is the first year we won a ticket.
Adam, Tom and I are 37 now and have been friends since we were 5 years old so it’s pretty cool to share the money with them.
Do you play any other sports on Draftstars? What is your favourite?
Mainly AFL. A bit of golf when the majors are on as well as the odd horse racing and NBA.
Tell us about the sweat. Where did you watch the game(s), who with, when did you realise you had won? Any notable plays that got you the win?
I’m a big Carlton supporter so I had made the trip up to the GABBA on Saturday sitting 2 rows from the back on level 4. It was all about the Blues in the 1st quarter and was already organising my Grand Final tickets during the quarter time break.
2nd quarter I was pretty flat.
By the end of the 3rd quarter I’d given up on the Blues and it was all about Draftstars and going for the win!
I was torn in the last quarter when the Blues starting kicking goals but was really barracking for Charlie Cameron, Caleb Marchbank, Josh Dunkley, Jaspa Fletcher & Oscar McInerney.
I was really excited when Harry McKay kicked a goal in the last to give the Blues a sniff but was then shattered when I realised the team projected to come second had him in his team!
I’ve never been more torn and confused.
I was also guttered when Charlie Cameron hit the post in the last. That was going in the whole way.
I just found myself watching the phone and not the game most of the time.
Phone reception was pretty hard to come by at the Gabba so trying to get onto the boys to see if the team had actually won or not took a while because the app wouldn’t update.
I got a few confused looks because I was the happiest Carlton supporter in Brisbane.
It would have been Fly’s (Collingwood Coach Craig McRae) fault if the team lost, fancy having Jordan DeGoey stuck on the bench for the last 12 minutes of the game on Friday night haha!
Tell us about your strategy when putting together your entry and who were your key players?
Adam being a Collingwood supporter and myself being a Carlton supporter we had to pick with our heads and not our hearts. It was tough work, it was good to have a neutral at the selection table in Tom who is a Dees man, thanks Max Gawn…
Josh Dunkley, Charlie Cameron (at home) and Jordan De Goey were my non negotiables. Rucks were a toss up between Oscar McInerney and Mason Cox. And Caleb Marchbank came into calculations once Brodie Kemp was omitted. He was huge in the second half and was also free a lot of the time and was hardly used! Such a frustrating watch!
What are your feelings now that you have taken down the biggest prize in AFL Fantasy?
When you get the ticket and look at the prize money you think how good would coming top 10 would be. When you are so close and the teams still projected to come first you get greedy and start thinking you’ll be shattered if you come 2nd.
What is your favourite thing about playing Daily Fantasy Sports?
Gives you an interest in the game or games if you are watching a neutral. You don’t need to be barracking for a team you can follow players.
And the prize money available these days is awesome. If you are playing a supercoach league with mates for money you have to wait 24 weeks to get paid. Daily Fantasy Sports you can potentially win every game.
Congratulations to Tom but most importantly to all participants of the AFL Star for 2023. We hope we can go again in 2024 and possibly hit heights we have never hit before!
