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Welcome to Balls of Steel’s AFL Beat!

AFLW Round 3 Recaps

Round 3 began again on North American Thursday night which doesn’t really work out too well for me to watch the game live. This time, the North Melbourne/Tasmania Kangaroos took on the Western Bulldogs in a battle of Conference A teams.

Remember how I said that it would be interesting to see if North’s strategy of building an All-Star team through the expansion draft would work? Well, I don’t think we need to see any more games for proof. The Roos are for real and they’re kicking ass. This is their premiership to lose.

Once again, both teams started slowly, but a red-hot second quarter in which the Roos scored 5 goals to none for the Doggies made all the difference. While the Doggies held the Roos scoreless in the third, the Tasmanian home team scored another 3 goals in the fourth to seal the victory.

Here are the highlights:

Later on Friday night, the GWS Giants hosted the Carlton Blues at a really kickass sportspark.

Unfortunately for the Giants, the only ones kicking ass were the Blues. It was a thorough domination from beginning to end as the Giants could never really get anything going.

Former Brisbane Lion and Balls fave Tayla Harris played a solid game but might get in some disciplinary trouble due to a bump on GWS’ Pepa Randall.

Here are the highlights:

The late late game on Friday night had the Fremantle Dockers hosting the lowly Collingwood Magpies. The Pies had had as much trouble scoring as the typical DFO reader, so it did not look good.

It wasn’t.

This was another demolition of a Conference B side by a Conference A side. The Dockers led throughout and when your coach is happy you played the opposition evenly for the second half, you realize you’re grasping at straws.

Here are the highlights:

Speaking of grasping at straws, I’m trying to find something positive to say about Geelong’s game against the Adelaide Crows on North American Saturday night. I mean, I could be happy that it was on at a reasonable time so that I could watch it.

On the other hand, it wasn’t really a game that I enjoyed watching. Adelaide was clearly the superior team. The Cats played well in spots, but not consistently enough to seriously challenge the Crows.

Maybe another bright spot for the Cats was that they scored the most points of all the games so far? I dunno, man, I’m trying here.

Here are the highlights:

The last game was again too late for my old ass, but thanks to being an old man and getting the runs in the middle of the night, I managed to catch a piece of the Brisbane Lions hosting the Melbourne Demons.

I should rephrase that. I saw a piece of the Melbourne Demons doing to the Brisbane Lions exactly what I was doing to my poor toilet.

It was not pretty.

Here are the highlights:

Having seen three rounds now, the unbalance of the conferences is crystal clear. There are going to be a LOT of unhappy teams in Conference A that won’t make finals. I’m pretty much guaranteeing that the finals system will get changed next year.

It wouldn’t surprise me if they change it this year. The difference in quality is THAT blatant.

To show you what I mean, let’s take a look at the ladders, shall we?

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Ladder

This year, since we have two new teams, the ladder will be split up into TWO ladders, one for each conference:

Conference A

P	TEAM	W	L	T	PTS	%
1	North Melbourne Kangaroos	3	0	0	12	250.8
2	Fremantle Dockers	3	0	0	12	156.6
3	Melbourne Demons	2	1	0	8	158.4
4	Adelaide Crows	2	1	0	8	141.4
5	Western Bulldogs	2	1	0	8	86.0

Conference B

P	TEAM	W	L	T	PTS	%
1	Carlton Blues	1	2	0	4	86.2
2	Geelong Cats	1	2	0	4	62.6
3	Brisbane Lions	1	2	0	4	58.4
4	GWS Giants	0	3	0	0	60.6
5	Collingwood Magpies	0	3	0	0	49.5

Like last week, every single team in Conference A has a better record than the leader in Conference B. If this was a single table like last year, you could just stack Conference A on top of Conference B and you’d be set.

The problem is that the Preliminary Finals are set so that Conference B gets a guaranteed two spots. This has already prompted numerous articles in the Australian press demanding change. The only question is whether the change happens next year or this year.

Last week, I wrote that it’s not like the Conference B teams are that far off. This week proved me wrong as the Conference A teams beat Conference B teams by 31, 33, 29, and 39.

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Lady Footy Tipping Contest

The Footy Tipping Contest for AFLW is back again! Those who participated last year should have received an email. If any of you newer readers want to participate, please click on this link and sign up. The URL is https://www.footytips.com.au/comps/DFO_Lady_Footy. It’s an Australian ESPN site, so it’s perfectly legit and, even better, completely free. It’s the same site we use for the regular AFL season.

Here are the standings after Round Three:

P	TIPPER	Round Tips	Round Margin	Total Tips	Total Margin
1	SonOfSpam	4	18	11	44
2	Litre_cola	3	24	11	47
3	Mr. Ayo	4	23	10	66
4	BALLS	3	15	9	33
5	Dolph Ucker	4	14	9	56
6		2	6	8	48
7	Game Time Decision	3	44	7	61
8	Blax	1	100	7	248
9	BFC	1	23	6	55
10	Sharkbait	2	31	5	155

This time it was Sharkbait that forgot to put the footy tips in! I ask again, do you really want me to start posting foot fetish pics? I’ll give you one more week…

Big moves in the tipping ladder this week as Son Of Spam takes over the top spot from Litre_cola on margin points. Everyone is hanging in there, so it’s a good and tight competition. Just the way we like it!

DONT FORGET TO PUT THE FOOTY TIPS IN!

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AFLW Round 4

As a reminder, all the games are available to watch on the Watch AFL app. If you are an International Member of one of the AFL clubs, this is included in your membership. If not, you can subscribe directly through the Watch AFL website: https://www.watchafl.com.au

As I mentioned last week, for $150 per year, you get to see live every AFLW game, every AFL preseason game, the AFLX tourney, and all AFL games up to and including the Grand Final. You also get full game replays of every game I mentioned in the prior sentence as well as the live feed of the Fox Footy channel from Australia.

It’s really quite a bargain for nine months of entertainment.

Fox Soccer Plus also shows most games live. However, there is an extra charge for that channel and if you’re only interested in AFL, getting the Watch AFL yearly subscription is much cheaper and you get the benefit of replays without having to take the time to record games.

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

Friday, February 22, 2019

9:45 PM – Geelong Cats v Carlton Blues at GMHBA Stadium

Yay! Finally the Round starts on North American Friday night as North American God intended! Plus, I get my Cats going against a Conference B team! This is certainly promising.

Saturday, February 23, 2019

12:15 AM – Western Bulldogs v Brisbane Lions at Whitten Oval

It’s probably a good thing this game starts after midnight as I smell an ass-whupping in the making.

2:35 AM – Adelaide Crows v Fremantle Dockers at TIO Stadium in Darwin

Ok, AFLW, do you want me to keep writing about this league? How can I do that if one of your best games is on in the middle of the night over here? I guess that’s why they offer full game replays…

7:05 PM – Collingwood Magpies v GWS Giants at Morwell Recreation Reserve

This will be another good game, but for different reasons. The Pies and Giants should keep the game close and exciting.

9:05 PM – Melbourne Demons v North Melbourne Kangaroos at Casey Fields

Another awesome game as we get two Conference A teams battling each other for the right to finish in the top two.

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AFLX

The tournament is this week! I should have figured out that the reason there are no AFLW games on Thursday midnight is because the AFLX tourney is on this week on Thursday at midnight.

Add five hours to the following schedule, remember that it’s Thursday night, not Friday night, and you have your Pacific time schedule for the AFLX tourney:

As you can guess, this will be a full-match replay for me.

I should note that another star has been replaced due to injury problems. Robbie Gray will be replaced by Tom Rockliff on the Bolts.

Players will have the option of having their last names on the guernsey or a nickname:

I just checked and they don’t, but if the AFL would offer custom jerseys, I’d buy the shit out of a Balls 69 Bolts jersey!

Missed opportunity, AFL!

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See you next week!

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