Only just caught up with this thread.....so gotta put my size tens into it.
Firstly.....Scouse, if you think I did no recruiting for the West Midlands last season, then you are wrong. Also, Captaining a team is about getting your players to play each week and not just about getting them to sign up.
Secondly, please keep the points system as-is, although stipulating a pro-rata payout in relation to points gained for maybe the top 10 players in the winning team would be a good move.
Finally, if you are going to move away from the "normal" means of recruitment towards a draft, then as the NFL was mentioned, base the draft on the NFL.
1. Get everyone who is interested in playing to sign up on here
2. Decide on the draft order
3. Nominate team Captains
4. Get each Captain to CHOOSE 15 players from the list
5. Once each team has 15 players, all of the others become "Free-Agents" who are able to sign for any team that they wish.
If the draft becomes an allocation, then that IMO would be a load of......well....you know. (And WOULDN"T be a draft anyway!)