Finally, the byes are completed and we are back to a full schedule of games next week.  In the meantime, we got some surprises, some disappointments, and a new Carlton supporter in King Hippo!

Welcome to Balls of Steel’s AFL Beat!

The Round started with another Thursday night match (in Australia, Wednesday night/Thursday morning for us).  Apparently, these things are getting good ratings, so there might be more next season and perhaps in 2017 when the new TV deals will start. That doesn’t really work that well for me since the games start at 3 AM Pacific on work days, but I’m pretty sure they don’t care about what Mexicans from LA think.

This week, Fremantle held off the Collingwood Magpies at home by just 7 points. It was a thrilling back and forth game in which neither side could get a lead of more than three goals at any point in time.

Collingwood showed early on that they were going to fight hard and try to take this game from the Dockers

but Fremantle got back to their quality style of play as you can see here in the run up to Stephen Hill’s nice slip-streaming through Magpies and eventual goal:

That’s a whole lot better than the usual Thursday Night Shitfest the NFL feeds us!

On Friday night (Thursday night/Friday morning for us), Sydney surprised everyone by losing to Richmond at home by 18 after leading at halftime by 32!  This was a great comeback by Richmond, who have now vaulted themselves into the top 8. I believe Sill is the resident Swans fan here.  He’s gotta be disappointed not only by the loss, but by how both Buddy Franklin

and Kurt Tippet

may miss next week’s match due to disciplinary action.

Richmond worked hard and deserved the win.  Here is the Tigers’ Trent Cotchin scoring an amazing goal from the ground:

The early game on Friday night featured Hawthorn taking on the Essendon Bombers at the MCG.  Essendon started off well and led throughout the first half although the Hawks kept it close and even took a slight lead at the half.  The second half, though, belonged to Hawthorn as they out-powered the Bombers en route to a 38 point win.

Later, Brisbane took on the Adelaide Crows at home in what seemed to be an easy matchup for the Crows.  The Lions, however, had other ideas:

and played exceedingly well for three quarters.  Unfortunately for the Lions, the Crows stormed back, held Brisbane without a goal in the fourth, and completed a comeback from 24 down in the fourth to win by 13.  On the negative side, the Crows’ Rory Sloane fractured his cheekbone on this play

and will be out for a while.  Finally, we do have an Eddie Betts highlight this week!  Actually one goal and one assist in one highlight video:

In the last game of the night, St. Kilda took on the Western Bulldogs at the Etihad. If you remember, the Saints had previously shocked Western in Round 6.  They proved the first game was no fluke, but were unable to overcome critical turnovers and succumbed to the Bulldogs by 6 in an exciting game. Here is a nice bit of work from Western for an early goal:

Did I mention that I love the AFL headline writers?  “The Bont goes bang” could be an entry in this week’s KSK Mock Draft.

Finally, in the match all Hippos were eagerly awaiting, Carlton hosted the Gold Coast Suns on Saturday night (Sunday in Australia). The Blues, buoyed by this new-found support, convincingly beat the Suns by 34 for their second win in a row. Things got a little rough, but Carlton’s Chris Yarran left that behind for a pretty goal:

I’ve mentioned this before, but it bears repeating.  This highlight shows exactly why I love this game.  The players are allowed to scrap without the referees getting in the way.  In fact, the referees are basically saying, “Ok, you guys go ahead, we’re going to keep playing”.  That’s the smartest way to make sure fights don’t escalate!  And, none of these players will be suspended by the league this week.  So refreshing!

Can you imagine that in Goodell’s NFL?

Here is another great Carlton highlight.

Ever since the Blues got rid of Mick Malthouse, they have looked better and have now won two games in a row!  No one is sure who the next permanent coach will be, but interim coach John Barker has done a tremendous job.  It may be too late to make the finals this year, but the second half of the season looks promising.

Let’s take a look at the ladder, shall we?

Now that the byes are done, everyone has the same 12 games played and we can again analyze the ladder to try to see the future.  It seems the top five are locked in to finals spots.  The remaining three spots are now up for grabs between the next 6 or 7 teams depending on whether you think Port Adelaide can turn things around after this week’s bye. This week’s loss did major damage to Essendon’s finals hopes as they are now in the same position as the Saints and the Demons.  You could say they are in AFL

One more thing:  Emma Samms was so 80’s hot, it’s not even funny:

See you next week!