On Friday night’s Open Thread, we had a good time commenting on the Grand Final as it happened. Luckily for us, we got ourselves a beauty of a game. The recap, the final Footy Tipping Contest standings, and much more on
Welcome to Balls of Steel’s AFL Beat!
I watched many of the pre-Grand Final activities on the Watch AFL app.
Things started off with the Grand Final Parade, held on the Australian Friday before the Grand Final on Australian Saturday. Yes, the day before the Grand Final is a holiday in Victoria!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUgXrYl0e2c
On Grand Final Day, things got started with the traditional North Melbourne Grand Final Breakfast, hosted by the North Melbourne Football Club:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gXMfdy_ono
A little later, the AFL Longest Kick Competition, err…. kicked off:
All of which got us closer to the First Bounce.
After all the pregame festivities, it was finally time for the game to start and Collingwood got off to a scorching start, scoring the first 5 goals and at one point holding a 29 point lead in the first quarter!
West Coast reacted, however, and the second quarter was what they call in Australia an arm wrestle as the two teams were scoreless for most of the quarter until a couple of late goals by West Coast edged them closer to the Pies.
The arm wrestle continued into the third quarter until about the midway point when West Coast surged and managed to level the scores at Three Quarter Time.
The fourth quarter was epic as the Pies bounced back to score goals only for the Eagles to answer. With Collingwood ahead, only two behinds marked the difference as we headed into the final minutes:
And so ended one of the greatest Grand Finals in AFL history. Here are the full game highlights:
The West Coast Eagles are your 2018 Premiers!
***
Footy Tipping Contest
Here are the final standings:
| P | TIPPER | Round Tips | Round Margin | TOTAL Tips | TOTAL Margin |
| 1 | SonOfSpam | 0 | 17 | 149 | 729 |
| 2 | Sunrisesunrise | 0 | 5 | 146 | 774 |
| 3 | BALLS | 1 | 9 | 142 | 755 |
| 4 | Spanky Datass | 0 | 16 | 142 | 874 |
| 5 | Litre_Cola | 0 | 5 | 140 | 739 |
| 6 | WhyEaglesWhy | 0 | 5 | 133 | 763 |
| 7 | Dolph Ucker | 0 | 5 | 132 | 933 |
| 8 | BFC | 0 | 5 | 129 | 700 |
| 9 | Game Time Decision | 1 | 8 | 123 | 812 |
| 10 | 0 | 5 | 110 | 865 | |
| 11 | JPF | 0 | 5 | 106 | 848 |
| 12 | nomonkeyfun | 0 | 5 | 101 | 812 |
| 13 | blaxabbath | 0 | 5 | 91 | 858 |
| 14 | Sharkbait | 0 | 5 | 89 | 901 |
I managed to sneak into third as Game Time Decision and I were the only ones to back the Eagles.
Thank you to everyone that participated this year and the next time I see SonOfSpam, prize beers are on me!
***
The AFL offseason now begins. Here are the key dates going forward:
When does the 2018 NAB AFL free agency and Trade Period start and finish?
Friday, 5 October: Restricted free agency offer and unrestricted free agency period starts.
Monday, 8 October 10am: NAB AFL Trade Period starts.
Friday, 12 October 5pm: Close of restricted free agency offer and unrestricted free agency period.
Monday, 15 October 2pm: AFL restricted free agency matching offer three-day period ends.
Wednesday, 17 October 8.30pm: NAB AFL Trade Period closes (for exchange of players).
Friday, 16 November 2pm: NAB AFL Trade Period closes (for exchange of selections only).
When is the 2018 NAB AFL Draft Combine?
Tuesday, 2 October – Friday 5 October: AFL Draft Combine.
Friday, 5 October: Victoria / NEAFL / Tasmania State Draft Combine.
Saturday, 13 October: South Australian Draft Combine.
Sunday, 14 October: West Australian Draft Combine.
When are the 2018 NAB AFL Draft and Rookie Drafts?
Thursday, 22 November 7pm – 9.30pm: NAB AFL Draft (Round One).
Friday, 23 November 10am – 1.30pm: NAB AFL Draft (Round Two onwards to conclusion).
Friday, 23 November 5pm: NAB AFL Pre-Season Draft and NAB AFL Rookie Draft.
How else can players switch clubs?
Delisted players become free agents and can join new clubs during any of the three NAB AFL delisted player free agency windows. Once clubs have delisted a player, they will receive no compensation should that player be signed by a new club.
The key dates for delisted free agents are as follows:
Wednesday, 31 October 2pm: List Lodgement (1)
Thursday, 1 November: AFL delisted player free agency period (1) starts
Thursday, 8 November: AFL delisted player free agency period (1) closes
Saturday, 10 November: AFL delisted player free agency period (2) starts
Friday, 16 November 5pm: AFL delisted player free agency period (2) closes
Friday, 23 November 1.30pm – 2.30pm: AFL delisted player free agency period (3) starts
Tuesday, 27 November 2pm: Final AFL club list lodgement
***
That’s all she wrote for this AFL season! Thank you to everyone for joining in the fun and I’m glad we got some new fans this year.
The players and I will take a well-deserved rest. If all goes well, we’ll all be back in February with AFLW, AFLX (?), the AFL preseason, and then the 2019 Home and Away season. See you then!
thanks for doing these all season. Tho, i still don’t understand the game, it’s a blast to watch.
And I was taking the road dog if less than a dollar for most of the year.
Obligatory:
And still fuck Hawthorn and Sydney.
She’s wearing my digital watch now? Oh Miranda, I’d be more into you if you wouldn’t try so hard. SMH