This week, the cream rises to the the top

Welcome to Balls of Steel’s AFL Beat!

The gap between the good teams and the not-so-good teams is wider than ever. This week was really a warm-up to next week and the crazy good games we will get to see.

In addition, the AFL men’s season starts in less than two weeks, so I’ve got to get you prepped for that!

There is much to go over. Let’s get right to it!

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Week 6 Recaps

Richmond Tigers 32 – 67 North Melbourne Kangaroos

The Tigers tried to hang with the Roos as long as they could, but they just got run over in the second half.

Here are the highlights:

GWS Giants 13 – 55 Brisbane Lions

This one wasn’t as close as the score indicates. And that’s really saying something when you look at the score.

Here are the highlights:

Adelaide Crows 85 – 15 Gold Coast Suns

Yikes! This one had no alibi, it was just UGLY. What was not ugly was the guernsey that Gold Coast wore. That baby blue with the Indigenous design is, as our good pal rockingdog would say, ROCKING!

Here are the highlights:

Melbourne Demons 66 – 22 St. Kilda Saints

Another example of the Haves showing their dominance over the Have Nots. Percentage came into play a lot this weekend.

Here are the highlights:

Carlton Blues 64 – 31 Geelong Cats

The Cats are scoring more points, which is good, but they’re also allowing the opposition to score MORE points, which is bad. Carlton keeps their season alive one more week.

Here are the highlights:

Collingwood Magpies 51 – 15 Western Bulldogs

I am all in on the Pies. They dismantled the Doggies, who were supposed to be contenders for Finals. There will be some big tests to come, but so far the Pies have been meeting every challenge.

Here are the highlights:

West Coast Eagles 8 – 75 Fremantle Dockers

The latest edition of the Perth Derby was a blowout from the very beginning. The Dockers gave themselves a healthy percentage boost that allowed them to jump over the Lions for the coveted second place bye.

Here are the highlights:

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Ladder

Here is how the teams stand after Round 6:

P	TEAM	W	L	T	PTS	%
1	Collingwood Magpies	6	0	0	24	228.8
2	Fremantle Dockers	5	1	0	20	285.1
3	Brisbane Lions	5	1	0	20	258.2
4	Adelaide Crows	5	1	0	20	243.9
5	North Melbourne Kangaroos	4	2	0	16	165.9
6	Melbourne Demons	4	2	0	16	125.7
7	Western Bulldogs	4	2	0	16	107.3
8	Carlton Blues	3	3	0	12	112.3
9	St. Kilda Saints	2	4	0	8	59.2
10	GWS Giants	2	4	0	8	57.4
11	Richmond Tigers	1	5	0	0	74.6
12	West Coast Eagles	1	5	0	0	40.7
13	Geelong Cats	0	6	0	0	31.7
14	Gold Coast Suns	0	6	0	0	31.6

And now, the glorious return of the Balls GraphTM:

[gview file=”https://www.doorfliesopen.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/AFLW-Ladder-2021R6.pdf”]

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Footy Tipping Contest

Here is how we stack up after Round 6:

P	TIPPER	Round Tips	Round Margin	Total Tips	Total Margin
1	SonOfSpam	7	14	34	104
2	BC Dick	7	10	32	79
3	BALLS	7	14	31	108
4	Game Time Decision	7	15	30	122
5	BFC	7	15	28	73
6	Litre_cola	6	17	26	106
7		3	35	20	125

I think this is the first time that almost everyone got a perfect score. Of course, next week will be a different story. I really think the championship will be decided by next week’s tips.

I remind you, as always,

DON’T FORGET TO PUT THE FOOTY TIPS IN!

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Balls’ Sechs

• It’s still a 7 team race for 6 Finals spots. Only Carlton is within reach now and they’re not gonna get there.
• Round 6 was important in the fight for Finals spots because the contenders were able to boost their percentages and differentiate themselves that way.
• However, Round 7 is where the Finals fights will take place on the field. There are several juicy matchups that will help determine who really has a chance to win the Premiership.
• Juicy Matchup #1 features the Roos hosting the Doggies in Hobart. The Doggies must win to have any hope at grabbing the 6th and final spot.
• Juicy Matchup #2 features the Melbourne Demons hosting the Adelaide Crows. This will be a hell of a game.
• Finally, Juicy Matchup #3 features the Brisbane Lions hosting the undefeated Pies. If the Lions can upset the Pies, the race for the Top Two and the byes that come with those places, is wide open!

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Round Seven Schedule

As of now, the schedule stands as written below.

Here are this week’s games (all times Pacific):

Friday, March 12, 2021

12:40 AM – Gold Coast Suns v Richmond Tigers at Metricon Stadium

8:10 PM – St. Kilda Saints v GWS Giants at RSEA Park

10:10 PM – North Melbourne Kangaroos v Western Bulldogs at North Hobart Oval

Saturday, March 13, 2021

12:10 AM – Melbourne Demons v Adelaide Crows at Casey Fields

6:10 PM – Carlton Blues v Fremantle Dockers at IKON Park

8:10 PM – Brisbane Lions v Collingwood Magpies at Hickey Park

10:10 PM – West Coast Eagles v Geelong Cats at Mineral Resources Park

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AFL 2021 Season

So many things to discuss.

Number one: The season starts in less than 2 weeks!

Number Two: There were a few rule changes made over the offseason to try to increase scoring. They are as follows:

• Each quarter will go back to 20 minutes (plus time on) in length
• Maximum of 75 player interchanges per game (down from 90)
• At Kick-Ins (after Behinds), the Mark will be 15 meters away from the box instead of 10.
• The defensive player On The Mark cannot move laterally until the umpire calls Play On. Failure to do so will result in a 50 meter penalty
• The defensive team cannot substitute the player standing On The Mark.

The biggie is the reduction of interchanges. That means that players will get tired faster, which should open up the game more and give advantage to the teams with better overall fitness.

Number Three: There are no bubbles (YET!) but the plan is for the AFL to be as agile as it was last season. While the full schedule has been published, it is subject to change and only the first 6 rounds have been confirmed. Everything depends on what happens with COVID.

Number Four: We will do the Footy Tipping Pool again for your chance to win a gently-used Fleshlight! The site we use is the Australian ESPN site and we’ve been moved off a web address and onto a Tipping app.

I will request Litre_cola’s help in reaching out to past members and sending an invite to renew. If you are interested in joining, the app is “ESPN footy tips” and the name of our competition is “door flies open”.

For your reference and early planning, here is the Round 1 schedule (all times Pacific):

Thursday, March 18, 2021

12:25 AM – Richmond Tigers v Carlton Blues at the MCG

Friday, March 19, 2021

12:50 AM – Collingwood Magpies v Western Bulldogs at the MCG

6:45 PM – Melbourne Demons v Fremantle Dockers at the MCG

9:35 PM – Adelaide Crows v Geelong Cats at Adelaide Oval

Saturday, March 20, 2021

12:25 AM – Essendon Bombers v Hawthorn Hawks at Marvel Stadium

12:45 AM – Brisbane Lions v Sydney Swans at The Gabba

6:10 PM – North Melbourne Kangaroos v Port Adelaide Power at Marvel Stadium

8:20 PM – GWS Giants v St. Kilda Saints at Giants Stadium

Sunday, March 21, 2021

11:10 PM – West Coast Eagles v Gold Coast Suns at Optus Stadium

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Next week, I will fold in a mini-preview with the AFLW coverage. That’s all for this week. See you next week!