This week, I met DFO’s very own BFC, BrettFavresColonoscopy, for a quick drink prior to him getting on a plane for what must have been his fifth flight in a week. Totally cool dude and if you East Coasters ever decide to do a meetup somewhere in the Acela corridor, he’s a must invite.  Anyway, we’re talking and the AFL comes up and he tells me that his two Australian co-workers were baffled and utterly surprised when he started talking to them about the AFL and the different teams!  I was so proud that I have contributed towards the bafflement of Australians (Collingwood and West Coast fans so maybe it should not be that much of a surprise) that I bought the next round.  Well, I was going to anyway, but it made it extra nice.

Welcome to Balls of Steel’s AFL Beat!

One other thing we talked about was this week’s Friday Night Footy (butt ass early on the West Coast on Friday morning) match between Richmond and Collingwood.  To my surprise, he was tipping Richmond, who was coming off a drubbing at the hands of GWS.  I tipped Collingwood and I tried a little bit to convince him to change his pick.  Sort of like you try to convince a buddy that maybe he shouldn’t go after that girl in the corner because she has the crazy eyes.  Well, he’s a smarter man than me since the Tigers stood up and beat the Pies by 15.  Looks like the girl with the crazy eyes is great in bed.  I should have known.  They always are…

On proper Friday night, the now-standard five games on tap started with Sydney hosting the Port Adelaide Power.  I mentioned last week that the Power has gotten into the habit of playing well after they are out of contention.  It certainly proved true last week.  This week, not so much.  The Swans mauled the Power by 67 (so close!)  I not only like the alliteration on the title of this clip, the play is damned good and too damn easy if you’re a Port fan (sorry WEW!)

Sydney was so far in front that Swans fans (and the player himself) were able to laugh this off:

Melbourne was playing Hawthorn at roughly the same time and you were probably not alone in thinking that Sydney-Port would be the more competitive game.

The Demons turned in the performance of the season and the Hawks looked like they thought they were going to cruise.  The result was a well-deserved 110-81 upset of the Hawks by Melbourne!  This was a good hit and goal by Cyril “Figgis” Rioli, but I hear he may be in trouble with the Match Review Panel.  He may be looking at a fine at a minimum:

Of course, the Demons were the winners, so here is the goal that essentially wrapped the game up for Melbourne:

With that kind of alliteration, I think we are ALL winners.

Later that night, Gold Coast hosted the GWS Giants in what seemed, on paper, like a blowout waiting to happen.  The Suns pulled off a big surprise but not quite the WHOLE surprise by sticking close to the Giants and barely losing by 8.  As a matter of fact, the Suns were WINNING by 4 with 4 minutes to go and managed to allow two unanswered goals. If you’re a Suns fan, that’s GOTTA hurt!  Luckily, the Suns are the Houston Texans of the AFL, so Australians are going

It really is a shame because they played very well:

The first of the Late Late games featured the Western Bulldogs facing the North Melbourne Kangaroos at the Etihad. The Bulldogs were coming off a loss to Geelong and had plenty of injuries while the Roos were coming off a win over St. Kilda and were looking again like the team that won 9 straight to start the year.  So, of course, the Doggies won.

And they suffered more injuries:

They also did some good things:

That’s a nice butt tap on the freeze frame.  Gotta give him credit on that one.

In the other late late game, Adelaide did what they were supposed to do

and boosted their percentage by beating the lowly Brisbane Lions at home by a score of 177-39.  Shit.  Your move, Geelong!

Here are a couple of highlights:

I love that Tex Walker insists on keeping that fine fine pornstache.

Josh Jenkins (aka “Steve”) does a good:

The first of the Saturday night games had St. Kilda visiting the Carlton Blues at the MCG.  In a slightly pleasant surprise, the Saints bounced back nicely from their defeat last week to North Melbourne and beat the Blues by a score of 122-51 (so close again!).  Too bad they couldn’t have brought this kind of energy and effort last week!

Here is a nice example:

In the quest for a percentage boost (and to keep pace with Adelaide), the Geelong Cats traveled up the highway to the Etihad to take on the Essendon Bombers.  It was technically a home game, but since the Cats’ stadium is under construction, some games are being played in Melbourne.  This is a rare instance where a 66 point win can be considered a disappointment.  The reasons are that the Cats had plenty of opportunities for goal that they wasted and that Adelaide beat the Bombers last week by 82.  True, the Cats held the Bombers to only 34 points, but the Crows retained the percentage edge and the higher ladder spot that goes with it.

On the bright side, the Cats’ Steve Motlop had himself a nice game:

In the final game of the Round, the Perth Derby started off close and hard-fought.  It stayed hard-fought, but it was eventually won by the West Coast Eagles going away. Hey, no one told me Mike Tunison pulled a WhyEaglesWhy and emigrated to Australia!

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

Hawthorn’s loss was a YUUUUUUGEE blow to their finals hopes.  Since their percentage is so low, any loss from this point forward could see them drop from first down to fifth.  This, of course, assumes the other teams win out, but let’s look at the remaining games for the top five:

HAWTHORN: North Melbourne (MCG), West Coast (Domain), Collingwood (MCG)

SYDNEY: St. Kilda (Etihad), North Melbourne (Blundstone,Tasmania), Richmond (SCG)

ADELAIDE: Fremantle (Domain), Port Adelaide (Adelaide Oval), West Coast (Adelaide Oval)

GWS:  West Coast (Spotless), Fremantle (Spotless), North Melbourne (Etihad)

GEELONG: Richmond (MCG), Brisbane (Gabba), Melbourne (Simonds)

West Coast and North Melbourne will have a LOT to say about the finals matchups.  That Hawthorn trip to Perth looks like the biggest challenge left for the Hawks.  Nothing is by any means decided yet.

Here is the full Round 21 schedule (all times Pacific):

Friday August 12

Western Bulldogs v Collingwood at Etihad Stadium (2.50 AM) LIVE on Fox Soccer Plus

Brisbane Lions v Carlton at Gabba (8.45pm)

Hawthorn v North Melbourne at MCG (9.10pm)  LIVE on Fox Sports 2 and TSN 2 !!!

GWS Giants v West Coast Eagles at Spotless Stadium (11.35pm) LIVE on Fox Soccer Plus

Saturday August 13

St Kilda v Sydney Swans at Etihad Stadium (2.25 AM)

Port Adelaide v Melbourne at Adelaide Oval (2.40 AM)

Essendon v Gold Coast Suns at Etihad Stadium (7.10pm)

Richmond v Geelong at MCG (10.20pm) LIVE on Fox Sports 1 !!!

Fremantle v Adelaide at Subiaco Oval (11.40pm)

There are actually quite a few good games next week!  Almost all of them figure to be fairly close.  I anticipate Adelaide and Geelong to continue their quest to increase their percentages as much as they can.  It’s going to be a tough week for tipping, specially if North decides to play well again and Hawthorn decides to play badly again.  Somehow, I doubt that will happen.  Let’s check in with how our Footy Tipping Contest is going:

BFC was the only one to pick Richmond, but even he had no idea Hawthorn would lose to the Demons. That was the only thing that kept him from a perfect week and almost the ultimate perfect week as he was only 1 off the margin for the Richmond-Collingwood game! The pack is getting ever closer. With three games left and only a two game lead at the top, it’s truly a wide open competition.  Now, more than ever, DON’T FORGET TO PUT THE TIP IN!

See you next week!