Last week, the Port Adelaide Power said goodbye to any finals possibilities in losing to the Western Bulldogs by a healthy margin.  This week, another team said goodbye with a tough loss.  Who was it and what does it mean for those left alive?

Welcome To Balls of Steel’s AFL Beat!

I’m not one for much suspense.  It was Collingwood.

The Magpies’ Friday Night Footy clash against the struggling Sydney Swans was their last chance to remain in the hunt for a finals spot.  Sydney had come off a tough loss to Geelong, but were at home and looking to rebound.  Rebound the Swans did as they outlasted Collingwood in a tough and exciting match.  Sydney started off well, but the Magpies came roaring back in the second and took the lead in the third term.  The Swans, however, reached down deep and delivered a playoff-like performance in the fourth to take the game by 9.

The win was costly, however, as Sydney’s Luke Parker got nailed here by Collingwood’s Nathan Brown:

and then got taken out on a stretcher after getting tackled and twisted:

While Sydney remain in the hunt for a top four spot, the loss of Parker is devastating to their hopes of getting to the Grand Final.

On Friday night in the US, Essendon kicked things off by hosting the Adelaide Crows at the Etihad.  The Bombers hung on for about a quarter and a half and then the Crows just steamrollered them

and went on to win by 112.  Patrick Dangerfield showed why Geelong is so keen to sign him next year as he gracefully scooped up the footy one-handed and found an open Eddie Betts for a goal:

Eddie Betts hustled hard all game and was rewarded with this pure effort goal:

Early in the season, it seemed like every week I would post an Eddie Betts highlight.  That dropped off a little in the middle as his performance dropped.  Right now, however, he seems to have picked up his game, just in time for the finals.  This is dangerous for all the finals opponents as this team, with Eddie Betts on form, is very difficult to beat.  I mean, seriously, WTF is this?

Next up, the North Melbourne Kangaroos “hosted” the St. Kilda Saints in Tasmania.  Remember that both the Hawks and Roos have agreements in place to play home games in Tasmania.  The Roos made their Tasmanian fans happy with an emphatic 120-83 victory. The Saints have only themselves to blame as they were thoroughly dominating the Roos in the first half but only had a 3 goal lead at the half to show for it.  I watched that first half and, given how dominant they were, the lead at the half really should have been at least twice that.  Of course, Melbourne came roaring back in the third and that was that.  Here is Brent Harvey taking advantage of a Saint turnover due to pressure to score:

Last week, Port got eliminated.  This week, it was Collingwood’s turn.  Who is most likely to get eliminated next week?  Well, it looks like it may end up being the GWS Giants.  They faced Port Adelaide, a team pretty much out of it, with eyes on getting back into the top eight, where they had been almost all season.  It was not to be as the Power withstood a couple of GWS challenges and won at home by 21.  GWS didn’t help themselves with gigantic boners (and not the good kind) like this one:

Things also got a bit chippy…

The two late night games featured my Geelong Cats visiting the Hawthorn Hawks at the MCG and the Brisbane Lions hosting Carlton in a game vital to deciding who gets the Wooden Spoon this year.  The Lions were one game behind Carlton in the ladder and could pull even and possibly surpass them with a big enough victory.  Which is exactly what they got as they almost doubled up the Blues 131-67.  Here is a nice goal by Jay’s Australian cousin:

Tom plays for the Lions.  Jay is a cat.

And then we get to the Hawks-Cats game

The game against the Hawks was always going to be difficult but it was also a good acid test to see where the team really stands in comparison to the top teams.  The Cats tried valiantly, but couldn’t match up with the Hawks and succumbed by 36.  This highlight really sums up the game well.  The Cats did a great job in blocking the initial kick, but were unable to get the rebound and allowed the Hawks to score anyway:

The lone highlight for the Cats was Stevie J scoring a nice goal in his 250th game.  There is a big question mark as to whether he will return next year, but he played well after missing last week due to suspension and is definitely making his case for staying at Geelong.

Saturday night brought three more games with the last one (Fremantle vs West Coast) being the most anticipated match of the Round.  First, Richmond took on Gold Coast at the MCG.  The Tigers dominated throughout and crushed the Suns by 83.  This night was a good night to see the difference between good teams and bad teams as Western did the same thing to the Melbourne Demons except they beat them by 98.  It was really a thing of beauty to watch those two teams play.

I have to say that my favorite thing about Richmond is the dude with the mullet.  His name is Ivan Maric and he has a glorious head of hair:

He wasn’t featured in this highlight, but he did score a goal.

This was an awesome goal from Western’s Stewart Crameri:

Notice the scoreline.  Western led at the end of the first quarter by the score of 51 to 2!  I was really hoping for a 200-10 score, but it was not to be…

And then we get to the game of the round:  Fremantle vs. West Coast aka The West Coast (or Perth) Derby. This was a hugely critical game for the Eagles as Hawthorn had already won and leapfrogged them into second place.  As you saw earlier this week, that spot carries significant finals advantages.  Add to that the fact that the Hawks face Port Adelaide, Brisbane, and Carlton while the Eagles face Western, Adelaide, and St. Kilda and the cold hard truth was that if West Coast lost the derby, they would also lose the #2 spot.

Despite the fact that they were missing three key players due to injury, the Eagles played one of their best games of the year and were able to overcome the Dockers by 24.  Here, the Eagles’ Josh Kennedy kicks a nice turnaround goal after a nice buildup from his teammates:

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

Even with the loss, the Dockers are firmly in front and are assured of a top two spot at the worst and realistically they will hold on to the #1 spot.  With Collingwood dropping out of the chase for the #8 spot, Geelong and the GWS Giants are now under pressure.  A loss by either side next week would realistically see them out of the running.  Luckily for Geelong, the future schedule shows that they play St. Kilda while the Giants face the Swans in the Sydney derby.  The beauty about this league, however, is that it has a way of surprising you, specially in derbies

One more thing:  The AFL also has finals preview videos.  I think this one is better than anything the NFL has put out.  You be the judge