The byes are finally completed! We are now going into the final stretch of the season!

Welcome to Balls of Steel’s AFL Beat!

Let’s see what happened this week.

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AFL 2021 Season Week 14 Recaps

Geelong Cats 83 – 78 Western Bulldogs

What a finish! Just skip to the end. Trust me.

Here are the highlights:

Gold Coast Suns 31 – 81 Port Adelaide Power

The Suns are a mess, once again. Meanwhile, Port bounced back very well after last week’s tough loss to the Cats.

Here are the highlights:

North Melbourne Kangaroos 45 – 68 Brisbane Lions

The Lions are also keeping pace at the top of the table and remain in good position for a Top Four spot.

Here are the highlights:

GWS Giants 102 – 66 Carlton Blues

The GWS Giants are looking at one of the very few teams that could actually sneak into the Eight and take out Richmond. That will be a tough task, though.

Here are the highlights:

Hawthorn Hawks 73 – 86 Essendon Bombers

The Bombers stood up when it counted and won a game they could have easily lost. Finals are still a possibility.

Here are the highlights:

BYE

Let’s enjoy another quality Australian band, shall we?

Here are the highlights:

ANOTHER BYE

I told you this was the last of the bye weeks, right?

Here are the highlights:

Bye 3

Please enjoy a great Australian band instead of game highlights.

Here are the highlights:

Bye 4

And another!

Here are the highlights:

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2021 Ladder

Here is how the teams stand after Round 14:

P	TEAM	W	L	T	PTS	%
1	Melbourne Demons	11	2	0	44	132.2
2	Western Bulldogs	10	3	0	40	144.7
3	Geelong Cats	10	3	0	40	127.7
4	Brisbane Lions	9	4	0	36	128.4
5	Port Adelaide Power	9	4	0	36	122.9
6	Sydney Swans	8	5	0	32	108.1
7	West Coast Eagles	8	5	0	32	107.9
8	Richmond Tigers	7	6	0	28	105.3
9	GWS Giants	6	6	1	26	97.6
10	Essendon Bombers	6	7	0	24	103.0
11	Fremantle Dockers	6	7	0	24	91.4
12	Adelaide Crows	5	8	0	20	86.9
13	St. Kilda Saints	5	8	0	20	78.3
14	Carlton Blues	4	9	0	16	90.1
15	Collingwood Magpies	4	9	0	16	89.9
16	Gold Coast Suns	4	9	0	16	86.3
17	Hawthorn Hawks	3	10	0	12	79.4
18	North Melbourne Kangaroos	1	11	1	6	61.3

Here is the Balls Graph (TM) as of Week 14:

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Footy Tipping Contest

Here is where we stand after Round 14:

P	TIPPER	Round Tips	Round Margin	Total Tips	Total Margin
1	Doktor Zymm	4	30	84	398
2	Litre_cola	4	11	81	391
3	SonOfSpam	5	9	79	349
4	BFC	5	19	79	421
5	Mr. Ayo	4	5	78	348
6	Dolph Ucker	4	7	78	362
7	BALLS	5	2	77	391
8		5	16	76	355
9	BC Dick	3	5	76	365
10	WhyEaglesWhy	4	1	74	349
11	Game Time Decision	4	14	73	336
12	bk109	3	5	64	350
13	Reverend Mayhem	3	5	53	360
14	Maestro	5	5	53	383
15	Yeah Right	3	5	50	402

We had a little bit of movement in the middle (if I had a nickel…) as everyone had a pretty good week. A lot of tippers got a perfect 5 out of 5 so good job everyone! Next week we’re back to picking 9 games, so we’ll see if anyone can get a perfect 9 of 9.

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Balls Sechs

• Byes are done and now everyone has completed 13 games. We can make true comparisons of where everyone stands.
• As of now, the COVID restrictions in Melbourne have eased and games will be allowed to be played at the MCG and Marvel Stadium, albeit without crowds. This may change, however, so stay tuned.
• There are quite a few games that will have big finals implications starting with the Port Adelaide-Sydney clash. If the Power win, there will be a LARGE gap between 5th place and 6th.
• Essendon has a golden chance to show it is for real against the Demons. If they can somehow win the game, they can be seriously considered to be contenders. If they can’t, we can safely write them off.
• If West Coast can beat the Doggies at Optus Stadium (and there’s a good chance they can), and Essendon beats Melbourne, the battle for the Top Four spots will get extremely tight. Which we like.
• The Match of The Round next week is probably the Brisbane-Geelong game. For the third week in a row, we have top four contenders going at it. Too bad it will be on in the middle of the night here. AGAIN!

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Round Fifteen Schedule

Here is the Round 15 schedule (all times Pacific):

Thursday, June 24, 2021

2:20 AM – Brisbane Lions v Geelong Cats at The Gabba

Friday, June 25, 2021

2:50 AM – Richmond Tigers v St. Kilda Saints at the MCG

8:45 PM – North Melbourne Kangaroos v Gold Coast Suns at Blundstone Arena, Tasmania

11:35 PM – Collingwood Magpies v Fremantle Dockers at Marvel Stadium

Saturday, June 26, 2021

2:25 AM – Essendon Bombers v Melbourne Demons at the MCG

2:40 AM – Port Adelaide Power v Sydney Swans at Adelaide Oval

8:10 PM – GWS Giants v Hawthorn Hawks at Giants Stadium

10:20 PM – West Coast Eagles v Western Bulldogs at Optus Stadium

11:40 PM – Carlton Blues v Adelaide Crows at Marvel Stadium

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That’s all for this week. See you next week!