Fantasy Football: McClarrons’ Mike Seals-Law Q&A

Game week 37, the penultimate round of fixtures for the 25/26 season, kicks off tonight at 20.00 as Champions League hopefuls Aston Villa look to all but secure qualification against Liverpool. 

This gives Insurance Times Fantasy Football League managers until 18.30 tonight to lock in their transfers, with title chasing Arsenal’s fixture against Burnley looking like the fixture to target.

Before the crunch time games get started, however, Insurance Times spoke to league number two Mike Seals Law, claims executive at McClarrons, who has shot up the table to reach touching distance of claiming this season’s insurance industry bragging rights.

Seals-Law sits on 2,291 points going into GW37, just seven points behind league leader and Allianz SmartComms engineer Steve Fisher and 21 points above Lumara Insurance’s underwriting manager Mark Greig, who is in third.

1. Congratulations on being second in the league this close to the end – do you think you can chase down first place?

It is incredibly tight and will definitely go down to the wire.

At the time of writing there are only seven points between us, so one good or bad game week could completely change things. I was hoping my triple captain on double game week Haaland would push me ahead, knowing Steve had no chips left, although that did not quite go to plan with him missing the Man City v Crystal Palace game.

That said, the managers below us are not far behind either, so there is still plenty to play for. It genuinely feels like any of the current top few could still win it if they are brave enough to take a bit of a Hail Mary punt over the final couple of game weeks.

2. What are the key decisions to make ahead of game week 37?

We are in the final yards now and every decision feels season-defining. Captaincy will be huge and, honestly, I still have not fully settled on mine yet.

Throughout the season, one thing that has worked well for me is avoiding rushed decisions and waiting until close to the deadline before making transfers or captaincy choices, so I can use as much information and team news as possible to my advantage.

At this stage, even small differentials can make a massive impact. If I am genuinely stuck between two 50/50 options, I will usually lean towards the lower-owned player in the hope of gaining an edge.

3. Who would you call out as an under-rated player for everyone’s Fantasy squad? 

It is difficult because there are always the staple template players who consistently deliver, like Bruno Fernandes. That said, some of the best gains come from spotting players before they become popular.

Earlier in the season, I went with Declan Rice over Saka for a spell, which worked really well for me. I also jumped on James Hill early and he has produced some brilliant returns for such a cheap defender, although frustratingly a lot of those points came while sitting on my bench.

Harry Wilson and Nico O’Reilly are two other players I would give a shout out to as underrated picks this season.

4. Who or what would you like to call out in the insurance industry? 

One topic I think still deserves continued attention across the industry is underinsurance. From a claims perspective especially, it can have a huge impact at the worst possible time for customers, particularly where sums insured have not kept pace with rebuilding costs, inflation or business growth.

Whilst it is something insurance professionals are very aware of, there is still a real need to keep educating clients on the importance of regular reviews and accurate valuations, using RICS rebuild surveys where appropriate.

Anything we can do collectively to improve awareness and encourage proactive conversations with clients is ultimately a positive for everyone involved.