As of this week, the regular season is 2/3 complete.  That means the margin of error is getting smaller and every game becomes more and more important.

Welcome to Balls of Steel’s AFL Beat!

The round started off with the North Melbourne Kangaroos facing the Essendon Bomber in a Friday Night Footy (Friday morning for us) clash of teams desperately trying to get into the top eight.  North got a great game from Ben Brown, whose nickname in Australia is Sideshow Bob. Seriously, I’m not making that up. Take a look:

Here he is grabbing a nice mark right in front of goal (and kneeing a Bomber in the back of the head in the process):

The Roos overpowered the Bombers and cruised to a 25 point win. This was a crucial game for North as they are just outside the top eight but have the advantage of a relatively easy schedule down the stretch.  They could not afford the luxury of losing to a downtrodden team like Essendon.

Another team with the pressure on is my beloved Geelong Cats.  We hosted the Western Bulldogs, who are firmly in the top eight, in the first game on Saturday night.  I was glued to my tablet as the game was tight throughout with the repeating pattern of the Cats taking a slight lead, the Dogs coming back and scoring to get it close to even, and then the Cats scoring again.  Finally, the siren sounded, the game was over, and we had survived by 8.

Steven Motlop played a crucial role in the last quarter as he scored three of Geelong’s goals down the stretch to keep the doggies at bay:

I was frankly exhausted after watching that game, but I managed to catch a bit of the next game, Gold Coast Suns vs. GWS Giants.  On a purely selfish level, I wanted the Suns to win because A) a Giants loss would put them within reaching distance of the Cats, and B) the Suns have played well lately after the return of Gary Ablett, so it would be nice for them to get a win.  Alas, it was not to be as the Giants pulled away in the fourth and snagged the win.

There were plenty of highlights, including the goal umpire getting smacked to the ground by a Sun defender:

Probably the best part for me was the GWS player putting the ump’s cap back on him. The ump wasn’t the only one getting nailed:

Gary Ablett again showed why he is considered one of the greats:

Late Friday night, the Collingwood Magpies hosted the West Coast Eagles in a clash with important finals implications.  The Pies had not won all of July but were still in the top eight.

They continued that streak by succumbing to the Eagles by 31.  This is now four losses in a row and Collingwood is now out of the top eight. You can see Collingwood’s despair in this highlight showing a way too easy Eagle goal:

The frustration is mounting and things are not looking good in Collingwood.  To add injury to insult, the Magpies’ key forward, Travis Cloke suffered a calf injury, had to be substituted out, and may be doubtful to play in next week’s game against Western.

Things are looking fantastic, on the other hand, at Hawthorn where the reigning champs are back to playing at an elite (Super Bowl-winning Joe Flacco Elite!) level. In the Grand Final rematch, the Hawks absolutely crushed the Sydney Swans by 89.  This was more lop-sided than last year’s Grand Final, which the Hawks won by 63.  Coming off the heels of their 72 point destruction of Fremantle, the Hawks are hotter than the Mila Kunis-Natalie Portman gif Martin posted on Slutty Saturday!

Check out this long goal by Matt Suckling:

Another great sign for the Hawks was the return of Jarryd Roughead after having a piece of his lip removed due to a cancer scare. In the process, he underwent treatment and lost 20 pounds.  He returned in brilliant form, however, and here he scores one of his five goals and then has the back of his shirt ripped off by the gutter in front of the advertising signs:

The last game on Friday night featured the Fremantle Dockers, who were humbled by the Hawks last week, against the Carlton Blues.  It was terrible timing for the Blues as the Dockers were rightfully humiliated and came out for blood.  They got it in the form of a comprehensive 42 point beating of Carlton.  This highlight pretty much summarizes what happened to the Blues:

Saturday night brought three more games.  In the early game, the Brisbane Lions had a golden opportunity to get out of last place (called the Wooden Spoon in Australia) when they visited the Melbourne Demons at the MCG.  The Demons, however, had other plans and put on a defensive show by holding the Lions to 36 points and winning by 24.

After a bit of confusion, Demon Jeff Garlett creates a little order and scores:

The next game was probably the best of the round as emotions were flying high in Adelaide for the Port Adelaide Power – Adelaide Crows derby.  Besides the devastating effects of the murder of the Crows’ coach, Port Adelaide were desperately trying to stay within sight of the top eight.  It was a tense, high-scoring, and brilliant game.  Do yourself a favor and watch the last two minutes:

All I can say is, I’m sorry WhyEaglesWhy!  That was a hell of a game, though.

In the nightcap, emotions were also high, but for a different reason.  The St. Kilda Saints – Richmond Tigers game was dubbed “Maddie’s Match” as a tribute to the sister of St. Kilda’s Nick Riewoldt and cousin of Richmonds Jack Riewoldt, who passed away in February from aplastic anemia.  Before her death, she had worked tirelessly to raise funds for Bone Marrow Failure Syndromes and this game functioned as a fundraiser for the charity she created. St. Kilda wore purple on the back of their uniforms to mark the occasion:

As for the game, the Tigers stormed out to a 52 point lead before the Saints came storming back.  Unfortunately, the Saints ran out of time and lost by 16.  The Tigers have now won four in a row and are solidly in the top eight. Here is an example of Richmond’s brilliant play:

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