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Welcome to Balls of Steel’s AFL Beat!

AFLW Round 4 Recaps

Round 4 began at a civilized time on Friday night for yours truly, so I was able to watch my Geelong Cats take on the Carlton Blues at home in a battle of the #2 and #1 teams in Conference B, respectively.

I almost wish I hadn’t watched.

It was tough to watch. The Cats started off well and played some ferocious defence, holding Carlton to only 2 behinds in the whole first half. They weren’t lighting it up on the scoreboard, however, so it was only a 14 point lead at the half.

The Blues, then, to their credit, thoroughly dominated the third quarter, holding the Cats scoreless and scoring ten points of their own. However, that 10 points was a poor reward for effort as Tayla Harris hit the posts twice while adding a third in the fourth. As you can see in the first picture of this post, she was all alone in front of goal and managed to hit the post.

It seems DOINK took a holiday to Australia this year…

The Cats were able to scratch out some points (sorry) in the fourth while holding the Blues to two behinds and that was that. It will be a loss that should surely sting the Blues. They basically threw away the game with their misses.

Here are the highlights:

Later on Friday night, the Brisbane Lions traveled to Whitten Oval to take on the lowest team in Conference A, the Western Bulldogs, which still had a better record than the Lions.

Unfortunately for the Doggies, the Lions brought their A game from the very start of the game. While it was billed as a Grand Final rematch, a lot of the Lions’ players from last year are gone, so this was much more about improving for this year and making a run at finals.

That, the Lions did, with an emphatic wire-to-wire victory against a Conference A team on the road. The Lions are now in first place in Conference B.

Here are the highlights:

The late late game on Friday night had the Fremantle Dockers traveling to Darwin, the capital of the Northern Territory, to take on the “home” Adelaide Crows.

The game was tight and close throughout the first half. In the third quarter, the Crows started to exert their dominance and it paid off in the fourth when they just ran away with the game.

This was a hugely important game for the Crows to win if they had any hopes of contending for finals. The Crows and Dockers are now tied on points, but Adelaide holds the percentage advantage thanks to that last quarter and this big win.

Here are the highlights:

North American Saturday night brought two more games with the first featuring the GWS Giants visiting the Collingwood Magpies in a battle of winless teams.

While I thought this meant a close, tight game, the Giants raced out to a 26-0 lead after the First Quarter. While I thought the game was over at that point, the Pies had other ideas and held the Giants to one point in the second to crawl back into it.

The third was much like the first in that the Pies didn’t score. However, the Giants only managed 9 points, which set the stage for a furious Collingwood rally in the fourth where they held the Giants scoreless again but that ultimately fell short as they simply ran out of time.

Here are the highlights:

The last game was at a decent hour, but I only managed to watch the first half before succumbing to The Sleepies. It was a good one too, as the league-leading Kangaroos took on the Melbourne Demons in Conference It ended up being a close game throughout as the Roos would take leads and then the Demons would rally. Finally, in the second half, the Demons wrestled the lead away for a bit only for the Roos to take it back.

In the end, the Roos held on and remain the only undefeated team in the league.

Here are the highlights:

This week, Conference B took the lone interconference game as the Lions were able to surprise the Doggies at home. Maybe the difference is not that bad?

Honestly, the difference in quality IS that bad. Poor kicking cost the Blues a victory against a Geelong team that played awesome defence, but had the ability to score of a typical DFO’er at a nightclub. Meanwhile, the Giants and Pies played an entertaining game that won’t scare anyone in Conference B.

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	4	0	0	16	201.1
2	Adelaide Crows	3	1	0	12	168.0
3	Fremantle Dockers	3	1	0	12	112.4
4	Melbourne Demons	2	2	0	8	137.8
5	Western Bulldogs	2	2	0	8	67.4

Conference B

P	TEAM	W	L	T	PTS	%
1	Brisbane Lions	2	2	0	8	81.3
2	Geelong Cats	2	2	0	8	70.1
3	Carlton Blues	1	3	0	4	84.8
4	GWS Giants	1	3	0	4	72.2
5	Collingwood Magpies	0	4	0	0	56.2

Last week, the Conference A teams beat Conference B teams by 31, 33, 29, and 39. This week, the Conference B Lions beat the Conference A Doggies, but I remain unconvinced.

The Lions will likely be the only Conference B team with any realistic possibility of beating a Conference A team in a Preliminary Final. Heck, maybe they’ll win and lose a third straight Grand Final?

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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 Four:

P	TIPPER	Round Tips	Round Margin	Total Tips	Total Margin
1	SonOfSpam	2	15	13	59
2	Litre_cola	2	13	13	60
3	BALLS	3	0	12	33
4	Mr. Ayo	2	13	12	79
5	Dolph Ucker	2	24	11	80
6	BFC	4	16	10	71
7		2	31	10	79
8	Game Time Decision	2	19	9	80
9	Blax	2	7	9	255
10	Sharkbait	3	55	8	210

Congratulations to BFC for rallying and getting top score this week! Also, not to toot my own horn (Ron Jeremy nods approvingly), but I managed to Blair Walsh the Geelong-Carlton margin!

Also, no one forgot to put the Footy Tips in! The competition has tightened up as everyone is within 5 points of the leaders. Well done everyone!

DONT FORGET TO PUT THE FOOTY TIPS IN!

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AFLW Round 5

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, March 1, 2019

9:45 PM – Brisbane Lions v Geelong Cats at Moreton Bay Central Sports Complex

It’s two games in a row for Geelong in which they’re the #2 team in Conference B battling the #1 team. Last time was at home. This time it’s on the road. Can they win two in a row?

Saturday, March 2, 2019

12:15 AM – Carlton Blues v Collingwood Magpies at Ikon Park

It’s going to be an interesting game given that the Pies seemed to hit their stride at the end of the Giants game. A possible upset?

7:05 PM – GWS Giants v Melbourne Demons at Blacktown International Sportspark

I’m thinking this is the game where the Giants fall back down to Earth after their first win but I’ve been wrong before.

9:05 PM – North Melbourne / Tasmanian Kangaroos v Adelaide Crows at Avalon Airport Oval in Werribee (West of Melbourne)

This is undoubtedly the Match of the Round. And it’s on at a decent time!

11:05 PM – Fremantle Dockers v Western Bulldogs at Fremantle Oval

Another good game, but this one will be on a tad too late for me. Sunday replay time!

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AFL Preseason

The AFL Preseason is now upon us! Please remember that, if you sign up for the Watch AFL app as described in the section above, you can see EVERY game live plus full-match replays! Here is this week’s schedule (all times Pacific):

Wednesday, February 27, 2019 (Tonight!)

11:40 PM Carlton Blues v Essendon Bombers at Ikon Park

Friday, March 1, 2019

12:10 AM West Coast Eagles v Geelong Cats at Leederville Oval

6:10 PM North Melbourne Kangaroos v St. Kilda Saints at Avalon Airport Oval

9:10 PM Adelaide Crows v Port Adelaide Power at Memorial Oval

Saturday, March 2, 2019

12:10 AM GWS Giants v Sydney Giants at Blacktown International Sportspark

6:40 PM Brisbane Lions v Hawthorn Hawks at Moreton Bay Central Sports Complex

9:40 PM Richmond Tigers v Melbourne Demons at Deakin Reserve

Sunday, March 3, 2019

12:40 AM Gold Coast Suns v Western Bulldogs at Great Barrier Reef Arena

11:40 PM Fremantle Dockers v Collingwood Magpies at HBF Arena

I’ve mentioned this before, but one of the best things about watching preseason AFL games is that they play them in many of the same small grounds and recreational parks in the Australian suburbs and countryside where people like you and I would play. Can you imagine professional players showing up to your local recreational sports center and playing the game they get paid to play in the same field your kids play?

That would be awesome! Another cool thing is that, by watching the game and the areas outside the playing field, you get a very good sense of what Australia is really like outside the tourist zones.

AFLX

The tournament happened last week on Thursday. As I mentioned last week, there was no way I was going to watch it live with work the next day.

To refresh your memory, there were four teams selected by the four all-star captains and they played each other in a series of short games (10 minute halves):

I thought initially I would watch a full replay of all games but then I realized that it would take almost 3 hours and my weekend is limited, so I can’t say I watched any of it beyond a feeble attempt to catch a replay Friday evening on the drive home. The lack of Wifi made the feed laggy and I gave up.

Here are your results:

And here are your highlights:

I still say the uniforms are cool and the AFL is missing a golden opportunity by not selling them on their website.

Correction: They ARE selling them, but they do not seem to have the option to customize the number and name. If they do, I promise I will buy a BALLS 00 guernsey in Bolts Blue.

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That’s all for this week. The AFL season is nearly upon us while the AFLW season is getting down to the critical few games before the Preliminary Finals!

Next week will be an expanded post as we’ll not only have AFLW results and AFL preseason results, but I’ll also begin my AFL Season Preview with a special eye on helping you folks that haven’t picked a team yet.

See you next week!

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