Haul and blank
A haul is a big single gameweek score from one player, usually taken to mean 10 points or more, while a blank is a return of appearance points only, 1 or 2 points with no goal, assist, clean sheet or bonus. Neither word is official Fantasy Premier League terminology: both are community shorthand for the two outcomes that decide most gameweeks.
Hauls decide mini-leagues
A haul is rarely one thing. It is a goal plus an assist plus bonus, or two goals, and it arrives as 10 points or more from a single player in a single gameweek. Put the armband on him and the whole score is doubled, which is why one haul on a captain can move you past an entire mini-league in an afternoon.
The other side of that is the classic mistake: chasing last week's haul. By the time you have paid a hit to bring the player in, the big afternoon has already been scored, and form and fixtures are usually pointing somewhere else.
Blank means two different things
Most of the time a blank means the player started, finished the match and returned nothing: he keeps his appearance points, 1 point under 60 minutes and 2 points beyond it, and that is the lot. He was on the pitch, so the cost is the opportunity rather than the score.
The word is also used about the fixture list. In a blank gameweek some clubs have no match at all, and their players score zero rather than 1 or 2, which is the situation that blank and double gameweeks are planned around.
Example
Your captain scores twice and takes three bonus points: 13 points, doubled to 26. A rival captained a forward who played the full 90 minutes without a return, 2 points doubled to 4. One gameweek, a swing of 22 points.
Related terms
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