This week…

We have a shitload of games in a row:

 

We have more upsets:

 

and a soccer game broke out:

 

Welcome to Balls of Steel’s AFL Beat!

This was a very interesting week off the footy pitch as the schedule for Rounds 9, 10, 11, and 12 was announced shortly before I posted the last AFL Beat.  Here’s the good:  We will have 20 consecutive days of Footy!  Here’s the bad:  Most of the games will be night games in Australia, which means they will be on in the middle of the night in North America. 

We had upsets again, we had a Grand Final rematch, and we had some crazy weather.  Let’s get right to it. 

Here are the results and highlights from Round Eight:

Thursday, July 23, 2020

Gold Coast Suns 46 v Western Bulldogs 51 at Metricon Stadium

This was a very close game throughout.  It came down to the last two minutes:

Here are the full-game highlights:

Friday, July 24, 2020

GWS Giants 62 v Richmond Tigers 50 at Giants Stadium

This was a gigantic win for the Giants over the reigning champs.  Sorry.  

North Melbourne Kangaroos 57 v Carlton Blues 64 at The Gabba

Another close game, but the Roos couldn’t pull it out at the end. 

Sydney Swans 60 v Hawthorn Hawks 53 at the SCG

The Swans the same amount of points as last week, but this time they won. 

Saturday, July 25, 2020

Port Adelaide Power 44 v St. Kilda Saints 73 at Adelaide Oval

This was the surprise of the round.  Maybe the Power should go back to Queensland.

Adelaide Crows 59 v Essendon Bombers 62 at Adelaide Oval

The Crows were SO close. I mean, it was down to the last two minutes:

Here are the full-game highlights:

West Coast Eagles 111 v Collingwood Magpies 45 at Optus Stadium

The Eagles are scary good at home.  The Pies had a good first quarter, as usual, but that was it.

Sunday, July 26, 2020

Melbourne Demons 49 v Brisbane Lions 53 at Metricon Stadium

This was another very close game that went down to the last two minutes:

Here are the full-game highlights:

Monday, July 27, 2020

Fremantle Dockers 16 v Geelong Cats 48 at Optus Stadium

It was sloppy and wet, just like I like it!

***

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

 

P	TEAM	W	L	T	PTS	%
1	Port Adelaide Power	6	2	0	24	137.2
2	Brisbane Lions	6	2	0	24	117.5
3	Geelong Cats	5	3	0	20	123.3
4	St. Kilda Saints	5	3	0	20	117.1
5	West Coast Eagles	5	3	0	20	114.8
6	Western Bulldogs	5	3	0	20	101.0
7	Essendon Bombers	5	2	0	20	100.2
8	Collingwood Magpies	4	3	1	18	116.4
9	Richmond Tigers	4	3	1	18	109.7
10	Gold Coast Suns	4	4	0	16	107.5
11	Carlton Blues	4	4	0	16	103.0
12	GWS Giants	4	4	0	16	99.8
13	Melbourne Demons	3	4	0	12	100.0
14	Sydney Swans	3	5	0	12	83.7
15	Hawthorn Hawks	3	5	0	12	79.7
16	Fremantle Dockers	2	6	0	8	80.6
17	North Melbourne Kangaroos	2	6	0	8	78.3
18	Adelaide Crows	0	8	0	0	59.5

 

Here is the Balls Graph^TM:

[gview file=”https://www.doorfliesopen.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/AFL-Ladder-2020R8.pdf”]

 

 

***

 

Footy Tipping Contest

 

Here is where we are after Round Eight:

 

P	TIPPER	Round Tips	Round Margin	Total Tips	Total Margin
1	BFC	7	6	47	130
2	SonOfSpam	7	5	47	169
3	Dolph Ucker	8	5	46	190
4	Litre_cola	5	2	45	148
5		7	20	44	239
6	BALLS	5	11	42	176
7	Sunrisesunrise	7	45	42	248
8	Yeah Right	6	5	39	204
9	BC Dick	5	5	38	170
10	WhyEaglesWhy	3	9	37	186
11	Game Time Decision	4	16	36	235
12	Reverend Mayhem	5	5	31	156
13	Maestro	5	10	28	170
14	Sharkbait	6	70	28	321

 

It’s now a two-way tie at the top between BFC and SonOfSpam! Congratulations to Dolph Ucker for getting the top score this week!

With the new compressed schedule, it will be more important than ever to enter in the tips in advance.  As always,

DON’T FORGET TO PUT THE FOOTY TIPS IN!

 

 

***

I’ve been providing, for your advanced Tipping reference, the schedule for the next few rounds (All times Pacific). Here then are the game schedules for Round Nine to Twelve: 

 

Round Nine

Wednesday, July 29, 2020

2:10 AM – Western Bulldogs v Richmond Tigers at Metricon Stadium

Thursday, July 30, 2020

12:40 AM – Carlton Blues v Hawthorn Hawks at Optus Stadium

3:10 AM – Melbourne Demons v Port Adelaide Power at The Gabba

Friday, July 31, 2020

2:50 AM – Essendon Bombers v Brisbane Lions at Metricon Stadium

9:35 PM – North Melbourne Kangaroos v Adelaide Crows at Metricon Stadium

Saturday, August 1, 2020

12:10 AM – St. Kilda Saints v Sydney Swans at The Gabba

3:10 AM – West Coast Eagles v Geelong Cats at Optus Stadium

10:35 PM – Gold Coast Suns v GWS Giants at Metricon Stadium

Sunday, August 2, 2020

1:10 AM – Fremantle Dockers v Collingwood Magpies at Optus Stadium

 

Round Ten

Monday, August 3, 2020

2:10 AM – Port Adelaide Power v Western Bulldogs at Adelaide Oval

Tuesday, August 4, 2020

2:10 AM – Richmond Tigers v Brisbane Lions at Metricon Stadium

Wednesday, August 5, 2020

12:40 AM – Geelong Cats v North Melbourne Kangaroos at The Gabba

3:10 AM – Adelaide Crows v Melbourne Demons at Adelaide Oval

Thursday, August 6, 2020

12:40 AM – Collingwood Magpies v Sydney Swans at The Gabba

3:10 AM – Gold Coast Suns v St. Kilda Saints at Metricon Stadium

Friday, August 7, 2020

2:50 AM – Essendon Bombers v GWS Giants at Metricon Stadium

Byes: Carlton Blues, Hawthorn Hawks, Fremantle Dockers, West Coast Eagles.

 

Round Eleven

Friday, August 7, 2020

11:35 PM – Port Adelaide Power v Richmond Tigers at Adelaide Oval

Saturday, August 8, 2020

2:40 AM – Brisbane Lions v Western Bulldogs at The Gabba

10:35 PM – West Coast Eagles v Carlton Blues at Optus Stadium

Sunday, August 9, 2020

1:10 AM – North Melbourne Kangaroos v Melbourne Demons at Blundstone Arena

Monday, August 10, 2020

1:10 AM – Geelong Cats v St. Kilda Saints at The Gabba

3:40 AM – Fremantle Dockers v Hawthorn Hawks at Optus Stadium

Tuesday, August 11, 2020

2:10 AM – Adelaide Crows v Collingwood Magpies at Adelaide Oval

Wednesday, August 12, 2020

2:10 AM – Gold Coast Suns v Essendon Bombers at Metricon Stadium

Byes:  GWS Giants, Sydney Swans

 

Round Twelve

Thursday, August 13, 2020

3:10 AM – Sydney Swans v GWS Giants at Optus Stadium

Friday, August 14, 2020

2:50 AM – Geelong Cats v Port Adelaide Power at The Gabba

9:35 PM – North Melbourne Kangaroos v Brisbane Lions at Blundstone Arena

Saturday, August 15, 2020

12:10 AM – Melbourne Demons v Collingwood Magpies at The Gabba

3:10 AM – Fremantle Dockers v Carlton Blues at Optus Stadium

8:05 PM – Western Bulldogs v Adelaide Crows at Metricon Stadium

10:35 PM – St. Kilda Saints v Essendon Bombers at The Gabba

Sunday, August 16, 2020

1:10 AM – West Coast Eagles v Hawthorn Hawks at Optus Stadium

Monday, August 17, 2020

2:10 AM – Richmond Tigers v Gold Coast Suns at The Gabba

 

The postponed Essendon-Melbourne game will be made up after Round 12, but there is no schedule out yet.  

***

Without further ado, it’s

Balls’ Sechs

1- The biggest surprise of the weekend, even counting the huge upsets, was West Coast absolutely destroying Collingwood.  I watched that game live and it was scary how good the Eagles played.  They’re the premiership favourites if they can repeat that performance come finals time.

2- Port Adelaide’s loss to St. Kilda was more telling in HOW it happened than that it happened at all.  The Power escaped last week against Carlton, but their deficiencies were bared open by a game and plucky Saints squad.

3- The Western Bulldogs have quietly built up a nice winning streak and are in great position to make the Eight. What’s remarkable is that Caleb Daniel, who is slightly shorter than me, has been leading the way.

4- The Melbourne Demons almost upset the Lions and have been playing very well.  This makes the eventual makeup game against the Bombers even more intriguing.  At the start of the season, that would have been an easy loss.  Now, I’m not so sure. 

5- Toby Greene came back and the Giants beat the Tigers.  He is truly the MVP of that team and could really be the MVP of the league.

6- Next week’s games do not feature a marquee matchup but rather a lot of interesting matchups of teams in the same position on the ladder.  The outcomes of these games will go a long ways towards dictating who gets to play finals and who doesn’t. 

***

 

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.

You can find the latest broadcast information on the Australian Football Association of North America website here.

Here is your Round 9 live broadcast schedule with North American broadcast partner:

Round Nine

Wednesday, July 29, 2020

2:10 AM – Western Bulldogs v Richmond Tigers at Metricon Stadium (FS2, TSN1)

Thursday, July 30, 2020

12:40 AM – Carlton Blues v Hawthorn Hawks at Optus Stadium

3:10 AM – Melbourne Demons v Port Adelaide Power at The Gabba (FS1, TSN1)

Friday, July 31, 2020

2:50 AM – Essendon Bombers v Brisbane Lions at Metricon Stadium (FS2, TSN4)

9:35 PM – North Melbourne Kangaroos v Adelaide Crows at Metricon Stadium

Saturday, August 1, 2020

12:10 AM – St. Kilda Saints v Sydney Swans at The Gabba (FS1)

3:10 AM – West Coast Eagles v Geelong Cats at Optus Stadium (TSN1)

10:35 PM – Gold Coast Suns v GWS Giants at Metricon Stadium

Sunday, August 2, 2020

1:10 AM – Fremantle Dockers v Collingwood Magpies at Optus Stadium (FS2)

The new AFL schedule will also change the publishing times of the AFL Beat.  AFL Beat Round 9 will publish on Sunday, August 2, 2020 in the afternoon.  AFL Beat Round 10 will publish on Friday, August 7, 2020.  AFL Beat Round 11 will publish on Wednesday, August 12, 2020.  Finally, AFL Beat Round 12 will publish at the normal day/time on Tuesday, August 18, 2020.

See you next time!