Welcome to Balls of Steel’s AFL Beat!

We had some major upsets this week. Let’s see what happened.

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AFL 2021 Season Week 21 Recaps

Geelong Cats 65 – 84 GWS Giants

Because I wake up early for work, I tuned in at the start of the third quarter when GWS were leading by 31. Geelong roared back in the fourth quarter but a horrible miss from 20 meters out to drop the deficit to 3 was the back-breaker. GWS regained momentum and that was that. Great game, though.

Here are the highlights:

Carlton Blues 57 – 76 Gold Coast Suns

I tell you, some teams just can’t handle success. The Blues had a chance to get into the finals picture and blew it with an upset loss to the sorry Suns.

Here are the highlights:

Richmond Tigers 89 – 56 North Melbourne Kangaroos

There is a reason the Tigers have won 3 out of the last 4 premierships. They took care of business against the Wooden Spooners-to be.

Here are the highlights:

Adelaide Crows 51 – 55 Port Adelaide Power

The thing about rivalry games and derbies that makes them great is that it doesn’t matter where the two teams are in the standings, the games are intense and usually close. The Crows gave the Power all they had and nearly pulled off the upset.

Here are the highlights:

St. Kilda Saints 93 – 64 Sydney Swans

This was one of the big shockers of the weekend for me. I thought Sydney would roll over the Saints but here they are with the Saints still having a chance at finals.

Here are the highlights:

Hawthorn Hawks 97 – 78 Collingwood Magpies

Alistair Clarkson is showing everyone that he still knows how to coach and that the Hawks may have made a mistake in letting him go. The big question now is which club he will go to next.

Here are the highlights:

Western Bulldogs 84 – 97 Essendon Bombers

Talk about upsets! I don’t think anyone had the Bombers beating the Doggies but Essendon backed up last week’s good performance with a great one! They are firmly in the finals picture with only two games to go.

Here are the highlights:

Fremantle Dockers 54 – 118 Brisbane Lions

The Lions bounced back extremely well from last week’s shock loss by going into Perth and beating the Dockers. The loss gives the Dockers a big jump down the ladder and may have just killed off their finals hopes.

Here are the highlights:

West Coast Eagles 63 – 72 Melbourne Demons

So this game was weird for several reasons. It was low scoring at the half and then the Demons exploded out to a big lead and then lightning delayed the game and the the Eagles stormed and almost caught up. But they lost.

Here are the highlights:

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2021 Ladder

Here is how the teams stand after Round 21:

P	TEAM	W	L	T	PTS	%
1	Melbourne Demons	15	4	1	62	130.7
2	Western Bulldogs	15	5	0	60	138.1
3	Geelong Cats	15	5	0	60	129.1
4	Port Adelaide Power	15	5	0	60	121.3
5	Brisbane Lions	13	7	0	52	128.1
6	Sydney Swans	13	7	0	52	115.0
7	West Coast Eagles	10	10	0	40	95.5
8	GWS Giants	9	10	1	38	96.4
9	Essendon Bombers	9	11	0	36	103.4
10	Richmond Tigers	9	11	0	36	100.1
11	St. Kilda Saints	9	11	0	36	88.2
12	Fremantle Dockers	9	11	0	36	87.7
13	Carlton Blues	8	12	0	32	93.3
14	Gold Coast Suns	7	13	0	28	82.9
15	Hawthorn Hawks	6	13	1	26	82.7
16	Collingwood Magpies	6	14	0	24	91.2
17	Adelaide Crows	6	14	0	24	80.3
18	North Melbourne Kangaroos	4	15	1	18	70.4

Here is the Balls Graph (TM) as of Week 21:

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Footy Tipping Contest

Here is where we stand after Round 21:

P	TIPPER	Round Tips	Round Margin	Total Tips	Total Margin
1	Litre_cola	6	30	120	627
2	Mr. Ayo	4	38	118	576
3	Dok Zymm	3	48	116	636
4		6	27	115	551
5	SonOfSpam	4	31	115	564
6	BFC	3	36	114	651
7	BALLS	3	24	112	615
8	Dolph Ucker	5	32	111	612
9	BC Dick	5	13	110	600
10	Game Time Decision	3	34	107	553
11	Why Eagles Why	5	13	105	564
12	bk109	5	13	97	554
13	Reverend Mayhem	5	13	86	562
14	Maestro	5	13	84	588
15	Yeah Right	5	13	83	604

We now have a new leader! Litre_cola got top score this week and has vaulted to the top of the standings! Joining him on top score was , who moved up two spots into 4th! Keep up the good work, everyone!

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Balls Sechs

• Credit must be given to the Giants for pulling off a gigantic upset of the Cats in Geelong while missing at least 8 players through injury and also being away from home for over a month now.
• We officially have six teams qualified for finals: Western, Geelong, Melbourne, Port Adelaide, Brisbane, and Sydney.
• As soon as I said that the Top Four look really good, those top teams lose and now the battle for the Top Four is getting really tough with Brisbane throwing their hat into the mix.
• Richmond’s win means the title defense is still alive for another week. They must win out, though, and have results go their way to get back into finals.
• Meanwhile, at the bottom of the ladder, the Hawks’ win and the Roos’ loss means your 2021 Wooden Spoon can be won by either Adelaide, Collingwood, or North Melbourne.
• The Match of the Round next week is GWS against Richmond. There is a golden opportunity for the Giants to get themselves into finals and knock out the defending champs in one blow.

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Round Twenty Two Schedule

So, thanks to the ever-changing COVID situation in Australia, the AFL has released the games and locations to be played, but has not, as of press time, confirmed the dates or times of the games. If they are announced sometime during the day or there are any changes to the locations, I’ll post them as a comment. Here are your games this week:

August ?, 2021

Brisbane Lions v Collingwood Magpies at The Gabba

Geelong Cats v St. Kilda Saints at GMHBA Stadium

Gold Coast Suns v Essendon Bombers at Metricon Stadium

GWS Giants v Richmond Tigers at Giants Stadium

Hawthorn Hawks v Western Bulldogs at UTAS

Melbourne Demons v Adelaide Crows at the MCG

North Melbourne Kangaroos v Sydney Swans at Marvel Stadium

Port Adelaide Power v Carlton Blues at Adelaide Oval

Fremantle Dockers v West Coast Eagles at Optus Stadium

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