The AFL and NRL home-and-away seasons have wrapped up but don't for a minute think footy tipping is done and dusted for 2016. For the first time, ESPNfootytips offers bracket tipping for both the AFL finals and NRL finals series -- and getting involved could not be easier.
Here's a step-by-step guide to explain how to make your selections and track your progress. Best of luck.
1. The bracket style of tipping in the AFL Finals Challenge and NRL Finals Challenge allows tippers to pick the winners of all nine finals matches before the September action gets underway. You can update your bracket as many times as you like before it locks out when the first final gets underway. Note: we've provided a handy countdown clock.
2. Once a selection has been made for the first round of finals you'll notice that the semifinals will be populated based on your selections. Continue to fill out the remaining matches in the bracket until you have selected the winner of the grand final. Tippers will need to enter a margin for the first four finals matches, which will act as a tie-breaker for those with the same score after the grand final. Remember, the lowest cumulative margin ranks the highest.
3. Don't forget to challenge your family, friends and colleagues by getting active on social media. You can share your bracket via Facebook and Twitter, simply by clicking on the relevant buttons (pictured below); they appear once your bracket has been saved. For those of you involved in competitions on ESPNfootytips, we've already added the AFL Finals Challenge and NRL Finals Challenge brackets to your competition so all you need to do is make your selections.
4. Scoring works a little differently to standard tipping, but don't fret: it's really simple to calculate. Bracket tipping rewards those who can predict future results, so for example: picking a preliminary final winner will earn you more points than will a successful tip for first week qualifying final.
The NRL Finals Challenge and AFL Finals Challenge brackets opens next week.