Applicable to: Association Administrators
Application(s): Admin Portal > Competitions
Applicable to: Basketball England, Cricket Australia, AFL, New Zealand Cricket, Basketball Australia
This article will cover the following:
Understanding AI Grading & Regrading
What you'll need before starting
Grading new teams before the season (initial allocation)
Regrading teams during the season
Exporting grading data for your committee
Related articles:
Overview
AI Grading gives competition administrators evidence-backed recommendations for placing new teams into the right grade at initial allocation, and for suggesting upward or downward grade movements once games have been played, during regrading events.
It has four key features:
Automated collection of team performance and player history data.
A transparent recommendation engine that can be overridden and fine-tuned.
Easy collaboration through filtered downloads and shareable links.
Audit trails to follow up on grading decisions during disputes.
The Play Assistant's recommendations draw on historical team and player performance, the grade nominated by clubs at registration, and your configured grade size limits. Everything is presented in a single grading workspace with team pages and player drill-down data, so your grading committee can review the evidence to support their final grading recommendation.
The Play Assistant recommends, your committee adjusts, and you approve. Administrators can easily finalise all grade allocations and see how they impact fixtures, then share links or export the data for offline use and circulation before committing any approved changes to the competition.
What you'll need before starting
Before you begin, make sure you have:
Administrator access to your association's competitions in the Admin Portal
Teams registered into the competition (for initial allocation)
Played rounds with recorded results (for in-season regrading recommendations)
Your grade size requirements — for example, grades of 8 teams, sometimes 7
Grading new teams before the season (initial allocation)
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Open the grading workspace
Navigate to your competition and open the grading workspace.
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Set your grade size constraints
Configure how many teams each grade should hold. Recommendations will respect these limits.
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Review the recommendations
Each unallocated team receives a recommended grade based on historical performance and the grade nominated by the club at registration.
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Drill into a team
Click a team to open the team drawer, showing historical results and player history, so you can sanity-check the recommendation.
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Adjust and finalise
Move teams between grades as your committee decides, then finalise the allocation by approving the recommendation.
Once approved, your grades are ready for review in Seeding & Fixturing if you like to adjust them before updating the fixtures.
Once you are ready to click ‘Update Approved Teams’ you get to review fixture adjustments to the impacted grades, one last time.
Regrading teams during the season
Once games have been played, the grading workspace suggests grade movements for teams performing well above or below their current grade.
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Open the grading workspace mid-season
Click the ‘Evaluate Teams’ button to analyse and review the suggested upward and downward movements alongside each team's results to date.
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Review the evidence
Use the team drill-down to check results and player history before accepting or dismissing a movement.
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Apply the changes your committee approves
Adjust grades as needed and finalise. Affected fixtures and ladders update according to your sport's regrading rules.
Tip: Acting on regrading suggestions in the first few rounds keeps grades fair and competitive for the rest of the season.
Exporting grading data for your committee
Click Export CSV in the grading workspace to download the summary view and team drill-down data. Use this to circulate proposed allocations to your grading committee ahead of a grading meeting — replacing manual cross-referencing of bulk reports.
Frequently asked questions
Can I override a recommendation?
Yes. Recommendations are inputs, not enforced outcomes. Your committee adjusts and finalises all grades — the AI removes the manual heavy-lift, it doesn't replace committee judgement.
How are recommendations generated?
From historical team performance, the grade nominated by clubs at registration, and your configured grade size limits. The team drill-down shows the evidence behind each recommendation.
Which sports have access?
Availability is rolling out by sport and season. [Placeholder: confirm live cohorts at publication — basketball and netball from June 2026, with other sports to follow.]
Does this replace the Bulk download report for grading?
The grading workspace and its CSV exports are designed to replace the Bulk download report for committee review.
What happens if I make a mistake?
Grades can be adjusted in the workspace before finalising. For changes after finalising, follow your sport's standard regrading process.
Who can use this feature?
Association administrators with competition management access in the Admin Portal.
What if a recommendation looks wrong?
Use the team drill-down to check the evidence, and apply your committee's local knowledge — you always have the final say.