This week…
Cats and Dogs are living together.
A player has tested positive for COVID-19
and subsequently a game was postponed.
Welcome to Balls of Steel’s AFL Beat!
Lots of weird things happened this week. Luckily, Footy will be able to go on. Despite the positive test, games continued as scheduled except for the game between Essendon and Melbourne. It is expected that the games will continue next week as usual, pending the results of team-wide testing at Essendon.
UPDATE: As of last night, only 1 additional Essendon player will need to be quarantined due to “close contact” with the positive player. That means the Essendon-Carlton game scheduled for this weekend WILL go on as planned.
It is important to note that out of 13,000 tests, this is the first positive result, so that speaks to the effectiveness of the precautionary procedures the AFL has put in place. It is also great to note that the AFL is following the contingency plan it set up in just such a circumstance. The fact that the games will go on is a testament to how well-organized the league is and how good their planning has been.
The AFL has also been extremely flexible. This week, the state of South Australia has eased travel restrictions and is no longer requiring a 14 day quarantine for out-of-state visitors. That means that Port Adelaide and Adelaide could potentially return home to play games instead of staying in Queensland as part of the hub.
There are further discussions that the Western Australian teams, West Coast and Fremantle, could also return home soon given government easing of restrictions. All this means that the league will need to re-evaluate the schedule and remain flexible for future rounds. They have, in fact, stated that they will be and have floated the idea that a Western Australian hub may be set up later in the year, if necessary.
Meanwhile, MLB is doing what? Oh yeah.
In more good news for Australian fans, the spread of COVID-19 has been limited so much that the Queensland government has eased restrictions so that up to 2000 fans were able to attend the Gold Coast Suns’ game against Adelaide. It is expected that up to 10,000 will be able to attend next weekend’s Brisbane-Adelaide game at The Gabba while the limit at Metricon Stadium in Gold Coast will be raised to 6,000 fans for the Gold Coast-Fremantle game and the Port Adelaide-West Coast game.
Here are the results and highlights from Round Three:
Thursday, June 18, 2020
Richmond Tigers 39 v Hawthorn Hawks 71 – at the MCG
You may be reading that and saying WTF and you’d be justified. The Hawks beat down the Dustin Martin-less Tigers.
Friday, June 19, 2020
Western Bulldogs 57 v GWS Giants 33 – at Marvel Stadium
Wait, the winless Doggies beat last year’s Grand Final runners-up? WTF X 2.
North Melbourne Kangaroos 60 v Sydney Swans 71 at Marvel Stadium
For those of you counting at home, that makes me 0 for 3 in the tipping this week…
Collingwood Magpies 81 v St. Kilda Saints 37 at the MCG
Ok, at least some sense of normalcy has returned to the AFL this week.
Saturday, June 20, 2020
Geelong Cats 77 v Carlton Blues 79 at GMHBA Stadium
Fucking REALLY? Are you kidding me, Cats? You lose to CARLTON AT HOME?!?
Brisbane Lions 74 v West Coast Eagles 44 at the Gabba
Thank you, Lions, for bringing more sanity to this round. Although, damn Eagles, you are really falling apart in Queensland!
Gold Coast Suns 82 v Adelaide Crows 29 at Metricon Stadium
Oh, the Sunnies are looking good, guys! Someone who needs a team should jump on this bandwagon!
10:35 PM – Essendon Bombers v Melbourne Demons at the MCG
POSTPONED!
Sunday, June 14, 2020
Fremantle Dockers 41 v Port Adelaide Power 70 at Metricon Stadium
The Power keep rolling and are now the only team to win their first three!
***
Let’s take a look at the ladder, shall we?
| P | TEAM | W | L | T | PTS | % |
| 1 | Port Adelaide Power | 3 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 243.8 |
| 2 | Collingwood Magpies | 2 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 189.7 |
| 3 | Gold Coast Suns | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 133.1 |
| 4 | Essendon Bombers | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 109.2 |
| 5 | Brisbane Lions | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 106.9 |
| 6 | North Melbourne Kangaroos | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 105.9 |
| 7 | Sydney Swans | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 103.8 |
| 8 | Hawthorn Hawks | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 99.5 |
| 9 | Richmond Tigers | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 95.7 |
| 10 | Geelong Cats | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 111.7 |
| 11 | St. Kilda Saints | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 96.2 |
| 12 | GWS Giants | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 94.3 |
| 13 | Carlton Blues | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 90.3 |
| 14 | Melbourne Demons | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 80.2 |
| 15 | West Coast Eagles | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 78.1 |
| 16 | Western Bulldogs | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 67.6 |
| 17 | Fremantle Dockers | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 78.0 |
| 18 | Adelaide Crows | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 50.8 |
Here is the Balls GraphTM:
[gview file=”https://www.doorfliesopen.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/AFL-Ladder-2020R3.pdf”]
***
Footy Tipping Contest
Here is where we are after Round Three:
| P | TIPPER | Round Tips |
Round Margin |
Total Tips | Total Margin |
| 1 | Dolph Ucker | 3 | 49 | 17 | 67 |
| 2 | SonOfSpam | 4 | 53 | 15 | 70 |
| 3 | Reverend Mayhem | 4 | 32 | 14 | 56 |
| 4 | Litre_cola | 3 | 43 | 14 | 56 |
| 5 | BC Dick | 4 | 5 | 14 | 60 |
| 6 | BALLS | 4 | 56 | 14 | 63 |
| 7 | BFC | 2 | 45 | 14 | 70 |
| 8 | 4 | 57 | 14 | 103 | |
| 9 | Yeah Right | 3 | 44 | 13 | 71 |
| 10 | Game Time Decision | 3 | 54 | 13 | 72 |
| 11 | WhyEaglesWhy | 3 | 41 | 12 | 73 |
| 12 | Sunrisesunrise | 3 | 48 | 12 | 76 |
| 13 | Maestro | 4 | 32 | 11 | 65 |
| 14 | Sharkbait | 1 | 18 | 7 | 92 |
We have just barely started, so it’s the perfect time for new folks to join in! The link to join the Tipping Pool is below:
https://mobile.footytips.com.au/competitions/?competitionId=401652
You should be able to join the competition without a password. All you have to do is create an account with ESPN Australia. Please note that it will be different than your North American ESPN account!
As you can see, no one got a great score this week, so there is still time to catch up to the pack! Join today! And…
DON’T FORGET TO PUT THE FOOTY TIPS IN!
***
For your advanced Tipping reference, here is the schedule for the next few rounds (All times Pacific):
Round Four
Thursday, June 25, 2020
2:40 AM – Sydney Swans v Western Bulldogs at the SCG
Friday, June 26, 2020
2:50 AM – GWS Giants v Collingwood Magpies at Giants Stadium
8:45 PM – Port Adelaide Power v West Coast Eagles at Metricon Stadium
11:35 PM – St. Kilda Saints v Richmond Tigers at Marvel Stadium
Saturday, June 27, 2020
2:40 AM – Essendon Bombers v Carlton Blues at the MCG
2:40 AM – Gold Coast Suns v Fremantle Dockers at Metricon Stadium
8:05 PM – Brisbane Lions v Adelaide Crows at the Gabba
10:35 PM – Melbourne Demons v Geelong Cats at the MCG
Sunday, June 28, 2020
1:05 AM – Hawthorn Hawks v North Melbourne Demons at Marvel Stadium
***
Round Five
Thursday, July 2, 2020
2:40 AM – West Coast Eagles v Richmond Tigers at Metricon Stadium
Friday, July 3, 2020
2:50 AM – Collingwood Magpies v Essendon Bombers at the MCG
8:45 PM – Carlton Blues v St. Kilda Saints at the MCG
11:35 PM – Geelong Cats v Gold Coast Suns at GMHBA Stadium
Saturday, July 4, 2020
2:40 AM – Western Bulldogs v North Melbourne Kangaroos at Marvel Stadium
2:40 AM – Brisbane Lions v Port Adelaide Power at the Gabba
8:05 PM – Adelaide Crows v Fremantle Dockers at Metricon Stadium
10:35 PM – Sydney Swans v Melbourne Demons at the SCG
Sunday, July 5, 2020
1:05 AM – GWS Giants v Hawthorn Hawks at Giants Stadium
The schedule will need to be adjusted to fit in the postponed Essendon-Melbourne game. In addition, the AFL will announce this week the schedule for Rounds 6 and 7. If they are announced prior to publishing time, I’ll include them here.
***
It’s the end of Round Three after a two-month layoff, so it’s difficult to draw any conclusions but, in the grand tradition of media pundits, we’ll do so anyway. Here is
Balls’ Sechs
1- We got three MAJOR upsets when Hawthorn beat Richmond, Western beat GWS, and Carlton beat Geelong. I think it’s because the losing teams played very badly and the winning teams played to their potential.
2- The Gold Coast Suns are the pleasant surprise of the 2020 season. Their game on Saturday night was a delight to watch. They hustle, they pressure, and they play together as a unit. I hope they can keep it up the rest of the season.
3- The Western Bulldogs responded nicely to their embarrasing loss from Round 2. On the other hand, the Adelaide Crows are in BIG trouble. They got embarrased again by Gold Coast.
4- Players, coaches, AND umpires are ALL kneeling before games to show support for minority rights. Moreover, clubs are refunding the money of members that complain about it on social media. That’s awesome.
5- Collingwood and Port Adelaide can now be considered the best teams in the league although Richmond is not far behind.
6- I still don’t understand how the Geelong Cats can take quarters off and think they can come back and win games. Yes, they almost did it against Carlton, but that’s not a viable strategy.
***
That’s all for this week.
As discussed last week, Fox Sports has the rights to the AFL in the United States while TSN has the rights in Canada and the AFL is pressuring them to have more games available on the FS1, FS2, and TSN networks. Now is the perfect chance for you to see what all the fun is about!
Not only that, but ESPN has jumped back into the AFL pool! They’ll be broadcasting one game per week live on an ESPN network and streaming another live on ESPN3.
Here is your Round 4 live broadcast schedule with North American broadcast partner:
Round Four
Thursday, June 25, 2020
2:40 AM – Sydney Swans v Western Bulldogs at the SCG (TSN3, ESPN2)
Friday, June 26, 2020
2:50 AM – GWS Giants v Collingwood Magpies at Giants Stadium (FS1, TSN3)
8:45 PM – Port Adelaide Power v West Coast Eagles at Metricon Stadium (FS2, TSN4)
11:35 PM – St. Kilda Saints v Richmond Tigers at Marvel Stadium
Saturday, June 27, 2020
2:40 AM – Essendon Bombers v Carlton Blues at the MCG (TSN4, ESPN2)
2:40 AM – Gold Coast Suns v Fremantle Dockers at Metricon Stadium
8:05 PM – Brisbane Lions v Adelaide Crows at the Gabba (FS2)
10:35 PM – Melbourne Demons v Geelong Cats at the MCG
Sunday, June 28, 2020
1:05 AM – Hawthorn Hawks v North Melbourne Demons at Marvel Stadium (FS1, TSN4)
See you next week!
I’ve watched the last 2 Fremantle games and while it seems we match up with anybody talent-wise, our offensive game plan SUCKS! Both Brisbane and Port Adelaide were advancing the ball down the field with shorter middle range marks because their players got EASY separation against our defense. They marched systematically down for a score.
Fremantle would take possession, send a bunch of guys into a big scrum with plenty of defenders and kick the ball way down the field for what was essentially a contested jump ball EVERY FUCKING TIME.
That’s got to be coaching. Both games, same thing. No wonder they’re winless.
You don’t know how happy it makes me that you’re that knowledgeable about the game!
Presented without comment:
“My Little Pony Fans Are Ready to Admit They Have a Nazi Problem”
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2020/06/my-little-pony-nazi-4chan-black-lives-matter/613348/
Well, they shouldn’t have named the little village Horschwitz.
The best part of working from home is I don’t have to hide the fact I’m watching lesser footy.
Go Trashbirds!
Go Spurs!
Your company knows everything.
me likey Sharky’s commitment to the wooden spoon
Stupid sexy……… wait a minute.
Go that way, really fast. If something gets in your way, turn.
Don’t think about it later…..
But is the mountain made of pure snow?
Driven.
UPDATE: It seems that the test result might have been a false positive as the player has tested negative! More details to follow, but that seems to be good news!
Woo hoo! U-S-A! U-S-A!
Wait, I mean A-U-S! A-U-S!