There were plenty of those this week!  A recap, a look ahead, and a whole lot more on

Welcome to Balls of Steel’s AFL Beat!

We start off with the Friday Night Footy clash between the Western Bulldogs and the Collingwood Magpies and you know what, let’s get straight to this:

If Steele Sidebotttom makes that mark or even gets that call for holding at the end, this could have ended differently.  As it is, it ended up in a night of frustration for the Pies as they came oh so close to snatching the win.

Not to be outdone for heartpounding and heartbreaking finishes, the first game of North American Friday Night (Australian Saturday) also came down to the last two minutes.  Now, keep this in mind, at the beginning of the second half, the Lions had a 40 point lead on the Blues:

That is probably the definition of barely hanging on to win.  If I’m a member of either team, I cannot be happy about that game. Talk about a

At the same time, the Hawthorn Hawks played the North Melbourne Kangaroos and did their best Brisbane impression by allowing a 48 point lead in the first to be whittled down by the Roos to 13 in the third.  Unfortunately, for the Roos, the Hawks remembered who they were and pulled away for a 96-57 win.  Here is a lone Roos highlight:

So, you say you want another

?

Okay!  Watch the end of the GWS Giants-West Coast Eagles game:

Wow. That’s an amazing fucking finish.  That Eagles win has YUUUUGE finals repercussions as the Giants could fall out of the top 4 if the Cats, as expected, beat the Tigers.

Refusing to stick to our theme, the two late late games were won handily by the Swans (over the Saints) and the Demons (over the Power).  It is interesting to note that WhyEaglesWhy was the only one to tip AGAINST the Power at home.  The Home Field Advantage of knowing truly how shitty your team is strikes again!

It is also important to note that the St. Kilda – Sydney game was the very first Pride Game in AFL history and it was meant to show support for the LGBTIQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and questioning) community and to make an effort to make everyone feel welcome at footy matches.  The St. Kilda area in Melbourne has a large LGBTIQ population and hosts the annual Pride March, so it makes sense that St. Kilda is the club leading the fight against discrimination and for inclusion.  As part of the game, the Saints wore rainbow numbers on their guernseys

and had the Etihad decorated with rainbows.  It’s really too bad the Saints couldn’t play better against the Swans:

You know, this is a really cool beanie:

Unfortunately, they are sold out right now but I’m hoping they re-stock because that’s pretty awesome!

Were there highlights from the Demons-Power clash?  Yes there were:

North American Saturday night brought three more games and two more surprises.  Let’s dispense with the expected and give you some highlights of Adelaide’s thrashing of Fremantle:

and, of course, it wouldn’t be an Adelaide recap without an Eddie Betts highlight:

Now, let’s get down to the exciting bits.  First up, the Essendon Bombers were hosting the Gold Coast Suns in a rare day game in which the roof of the Etihad was open.  That must have really helped the Bombers as they played well throughout and beat the Suns by a score of 75-69 in a close tense and exciting contest!  You had to feel good for the Bombers as they just hung after a late Suns goal to get their second win of the year:

Does that qualify as a

?  I think it does!  And now, we get to the biggest Close Shave of them all:

Geelong took on the Richmond Tigers at the MCG.  For three quarters, the Tigers gave the Cats all they could handle and built up a 35 point lead at three quarter time.  It was at this time that I, disgusted by what I saw, decided to turn the TV off (the game was actually on Fox Sports 1!) and get some sleep.  Well, I’m an idiot and the Cats are better than I thought as they came roaring back in the fourth to win the game by 4!  I honestly could not believe my eyes when I saw the score on my phone this morning.  It just goes to show you, kids, you never know…

Here is Harry Taylor scoring the goal that vaulted the Cats into the lead:

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

Here are the games for Round 22 (all times Pacific):

Friday August 19

West Coast Eagles v Hawthorn at Subiaco Oval (3.10 AM) Live on Fox Soccer Plus and TSN !!

North Melbourne v Sydney Swans at Blundstone Arena (8.45pm) LIVE on Fox Sports 2 !!

Richmond v St Kilda at MCG (9.10pm)

GWS Giants v Fremantle at Spotless Stadium (11.35pm)

Saturday August 20

Collingwood v Gold Coast Suns at Etihad Stadium (2.25 AM)

Port Adelaide v Adelaide at Adelaide Oval (2.40 AM)  LIVE on Fox Sports 1 !!

Carlton v Melbourne at MCG (8.10pm) Live on Fox Soccer Plus

Brisbane Lions v Geelong at Gabba (10.20pm)

Essendon v Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium (11.40pm)

West Coast-Hawthorn could be close or it could be another Hawthorn blowout.  I expect the latter but I’m not doing well on tipping recently so…  The Sydney-North game looks about the same as does the Adelaide Derby.  There is the potential for the games to be close, but also extremely not close.  Since we got our fill of close games this week, I don’t think we will get them again next week.

Let’s check in on how we are doing in our Footy Tipping Contest!

Blax seriously has the best luck.  He forgot to put in his tips this week and ended getting the road teams to win 5 of 9 to keep pace with everyone else.  DON’T FORGET TO PUT THE TIP IN THIS WEEK!

This next Round is the second-to-last round of the Home and Away season!  The finals are drawing ever closer.  Any slip-up (like with GWS and almost Geelong this week) by the top teams could see their chances to dethrone the Hawks shrink significantly. If this week’s games and finishes didn’t get your juices flowing and make you want to watch some AFL, I don’t know what will.

I leave you with some scenes from the Pride Game.  I say this all the time, but do you honestly see Goodell and the NFL doing something like this?  Never!  Reason #9130 why the AFL is run better than the NFL.  See you next week!