This week,

Welcome To Balls Of Steel’s AFL Beat!

Round 21 Recaps and Highlights

The Round started,  as usual,  with Australian Friday Night Footy and the Essendon Bombers hosting the St. Kilda Saints in a desperate attempt to keep their faint finals hopes alive.

On the bright side for the Bombers,  it was the Saints and they did what the Saints do,  which is contend for a quarter or two and then fade away.  Final score was 122-79 and here are the highlights:

Proper Friday night brought a YUGELY important game between my Geelong Cats and the Hawthorn Hawks.  The winner would be in good shape for a possible Top Four finish while the loser would be in bad shape to stay in the Eight.

It was an exciting game that had a finals-like atmosphere throughout.  A rough second quarter cost the Cats as the Hawks built a sizable lead. As has been the pattern this year,  though,  the Cats roared back,  but ultimately couldn’t complete the comeback.  Hawks win 71-60 and here are the highlights:

All of Richmond’s team arrived at the Gold Coast from Melbourne,  so the outcome of the Suns’ game against the Tigers was never in doubt.  Jack Riewoldt specially enjoyed his Queensland trip as he scored 10 (TEN!) goals by himself.  Highlights:

Later on Friday night,  Port Adelaide hosted the West Coast Eagles in another important game with finals implications.  This one came down to the wire:

The loss puts the Power in danger of dropping out of the Eight with a tough schedule coming up. Here are the full game highlights:

The Collingwood Magpies visited the Brisbane Lions in the first of the two late late games. Brisbane did as Brisbane does and played hard,  but the Pies proved to be too tough to beat.  The final score was 104-73 and here are the highlights:

The last of the late late games had the Adelaide Crows traveling to Canberra to take on the GWS Giants in their second home,  where they are almost unbeatable recently.

The pattern continued as the Giants held on to victory despite experiencing more injuries to their already ravaged lineup.  On the bright side,  they keep winning and are in the Top Four. Highlights:

On North American Saturday night,  it was hot and I stayed up to watch the first two games on tap. In the first,  the Western Bulldogs played the North Melbourne Kangaroos tough and ultimately may have ruined their chances at finals by beating them by 7. Highlights:

The next game was a perfect example of why I don’t like the Melbourne Demons.  They faced the Sydney Swans at home in a matchup of two sides in the Eight.  Amazingly,  the Demons have not beaten any of the top nine teams in the competition.

That continues as the Swans won a tough game and got themselves in better position for finals.  Here are the highlights:

In the last game of the Round,  the Carlton Blues continued their Lucy-like pattern of giving their fans hope by playing well early only to pull out the football and get blown out late.  This time,  the Fremantle Dockers were the beneficiaries.  Highlights:

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

Here is the Balls (TM) graph:

[gview file=”https://www.doorfliesopen.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/AFL-Ladder-2018R21.pdf”]

Things are getting REALLY interesting now with the combinations of wins and losses making a huge impact on the ladder positions.  I still maintain that there are 10 teams vying for 8 spots.

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Footy Tipping Contest

Here is where we are after Round 21:

A big thumbs up to Game Time Decision for continuing his climb into the Top 10.  I say he may catch BFC before the end of the competition!  At the top of the standings, Son Of Spam continues to lead but his margin is shrinking just like my penis in the pool.

For those of you not putting the tips in, this is for you:

DON’T FORGET TO PUT THE FOOTY TIPS IN!!!

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AFL Round 22

Here is the schedule for this week (all times Pacific):

Friday, August 17, 2018

2:50 AM (Late Thursday Night) – Richmond Tigers v Essendon Bombers at the MCG

If the Bombers can somehow beat the Tigers, AT HOME, where they are unbeaten in the last 19 (an AFL record), they deserve to be in finals.  Too bad they won’t.

8:45 PM – Collingwood Magpies v Port Adelaide Power at the MCG

This could be where the Power’s season ends. If they lose this game, they need to hope that Geelong or North Melbourne lose one of their remaining games.

9:10 PM – Geelong Cats v Fremantle Dockers

The Cats get the lowly Dockers at home and then the lowly Gold Coast Suns at home.  If they don’t blow both of these teams out and get some valuable percentage points, they don’t deserve to play finals.

11:35 PM  – GWS Giants v Sydney Swans at Spotless Stadium

This is probably the Match of the Round.  The biggest question is whether the Giants have enough depth to handle the Swans at home without many players.

Saturday,  August 12, 2018

2:25 AM (Late Friday Night) – Gold Coast Suns v Brisbane Lions at Metricon Stadium

This is probably the last good chance for either of these teams to get a win this year.  Who will win the Battle of Queensland?

2:25 AM (Late Friday Night) – St. Kilda Saints v Hawthorn Hawks at Marvel Stadium

The Hawks get a nice respite after last week’s win over the Cats before taking on the Swans in a game that could potentially knock the Swans out of the Eight.

8:10 PM – Carlton Blues v Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium

To tell you the truth, I would actually prefer this to be an AFLW matchup.  It would certainly be more high-scoring.

10:20 PM – West Coast Eagles v Melbourne Demons at Optus Stadium

Part Two of Melbourne’s patented Late Season Collapse is upon us.  Beating the #2 Eagles at home is a tall tall task for a team that hasn’t beaten any of the top nine this year.

11:40 PM – Adelaide Crows v North Melbourne Kangaroos at Adelaide Oval

Both teams had their seasons on the line last week and lost.  The Roos, however, still have a glimmer of hope.  They need to win to stay alive.

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That’s all for this week. Needless to say, every game is extremely important and, as we saw with Hawthorn-Geelong this week, the intensity has already ratcheted up a few notches.  See you next week!