Welcome to Balls of Steel’s AFL Beat!

We’ve gotten to the end of the Home and Away Season! Finals start this week. Let’s see what happened.

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AFL 2021 Season Week 23 Recaps

Western Bulldogs 64 – 66 Port Adelaide Power

This was the first of many crazy and exciting games this weekend. Port scored the last three goals of the game to come back and win.

Here are the highlights:

RIchmond Tigers 83 – 83 Hawthorn Hawks

The Hawks sent off coach Alistair Clarkson with a tie, which is weird, but here we are. The tie ensured that we will have a new AFL Premier as Richmond was finally officially eliminated.

Here are the highlights:

Sydney Swans 136 – 49 Gold Coast Suns

The Swans took care of business and are red-hot going into an Elimination Final against cross-town rivals GWS. The Suns, once again, finish the season close to the bottom of the ladder after a promising start.

Here are the highlights:

Brisbane Lions 125 – 87 West Coast Eagles

The collapse of the West Coast Eagles is complete and it remains to be seen if there will be any consequences for it. On the other side, the win by Brisbane technically had some last-minute drama as it was only until the very end that the Lions were able to pass the Doggies on percentage and grab the last Top Four spot.

Here are the highlights:

Geelong Cats 77 – 81 Melbourne Demons

Those of you that read my comments on Saturday know that the Cats blew a 44 point lead and lost on a kick by Max Gawn after the siren. The Demons finish the season in first for the first time since 1964!

Here are the highlights:

Carlton Blues 75 – 89 GWS Giants

The Blues could not send off club legend Eddie Betts the right way as GWS finally secured a finals spot.

Here are the highlights:

St. Kilda Saints 107 – 49 Fremantle Dockers

The Dockers needed to win and have Essendon lose and they were in finals. They couldn’t even show up. It was an embarrasing display for a game with a finals spot at stake.

Here are the highlights:

Essendon Bombers 102 – 64 Collingwood Magpies

On the other hand, the Bombers knew they were in finals thanks to Fremantle’s loss and still manhandled the Pies. They now play the reeling Doggies and have a great chance to win.

Here are the highlights:

Adelaide Crows 98 – 54 North Melbourne Kangaroos

This could have been a battle for the Wooden Spoon if the Roos had not lost that week. As it is, the Crows decided to play well one last time and jumped up the standings to finish 15th.

Here are the highlights:

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2021 Ladder

Here is how the teams finished the year:

P	TEAM	W	L	T	PTS	%
1	Melbourne Demons	17	4	1	70	130.8
2	Port Adelaide Power	17	5	0	68	126.3
3	Geelong Cats	16	6	0	64	126.7
4	Brisbane Lions	15	7	0	60	133.3
5	Western Bulldogs	15	7	0	60	132.8
6	Sydney Swans	15	7	0	60	119.9
7	GWS Giants	11	10	1	46	99.7
8	Essendon Bombers	11	11	0	44	109.1
9	West Coast Eagles	10	12	0	40	93.2
10	St. Kilda Saints	10	12	0	40	91.5
11	Fremantle Dockers	10	12	0	40	86.5
12	Richmond Tigers	9	12	1	38	97.9
13	Carlton Blues	8	14	0	32	88.5
14	Hawthorn Hawks	7	13	2	32	85.2
15	Adelaide Crows	7	15	0	28	82.0
16	Gold Coast Suns	7	15	0	28	76.8
17	Collingwood Magpies	6	16	0	24	85.6
18	North Melbourne Kangaroos	4	17	1	18	70.3

Here is the final Balls Graph (TM):

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Footy Tipping Contest

Here is where we stand after Round 23:

P	TIPPER	Round Tips	Round Margin	Total Tips	Total Margin
1	Litre_cola	8	0	135	674
2		8	18	131	593
3	Mr. Ayo	8	2	131	627
4	Dok Zymm	7	3	131	678
5	SonOfSpam	7	13	128	623
6	BFC	5	19	127	695
7	BALLS	7	5	126	651
8	BC Dick	7	2	124	666
9	Dolph Ucker	7	7	123	665
10	Game Time Decision	6	9	118	613
11	Why Eagles Why	6	21	118	631
12	bk109	4	2	103	595
13	Reverend Mayhem	4	2	92	603
14	Maestro	4	2	90	629
15	Yeah Right	4	2	89	645

Joliet Jake has continued his steady climb up the ladder and has now taken over 2nd place! It was hard to gain ground on Litre, though, as he, Jake, and Mr. Ayo all tied for top score. Keep up the good work, everyone!

Please remember that the Tipping Contest runs THROUGH the Grand Final! You can still enter tips on the app! There is still time to overtake Litre!

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Balls Sechs

• Litre not only knows Footy Tips like Rex Ryan, he knows his team. The St. Kilda Saints won their last game of the season to finish… 10th. As Litre predicted at the beginning of the year.
• The Matchups for Week One of Finals are set and, due to COVID, they will be held in Adelaide and Tasmania. Only Port Adelaide will have a home-field advantage.
• Surprisingly, the weakest team in finals seems to be the Western Bulldogs. They played the Power tough but ultimately lost at home and lost the Double Chance that comes with a Top Four spot.
• As you can see in the diagram at the top of the post, the loser of Port-Geelong plays the winner of GWS-Sydney while the loser of Melbourne-Brisbane plays the winner of Essendon-Western next weekend.
• Again due to COVID, the pre-finals bye was eliminated and games will be played this week. However, the bye could be put back in the week before the Grand Final to ensure that all quarantine measures are followed, if necessary.
• The Match of the Round next week is probably GWS-Sydney. It’s too bad it couldn’t be played in front of a crowd in Sydney. That would have been epic and that is the type of game that rivalries are made out of.

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Finals Week One Schedule

Here are your games this week (all times Pacific):

Friday, August 27, 2021

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

10:20 PM – Sydney Swans v GWS Giants at University of Tasmania Stadium

Saturday, August 28, 2021

2:30 AM – Melbourne Demons v Brisbane Lions at Adelaide Oval

10:20 PM – Western Bulldogs v Essendon Bombers at University of Tasmania Stadium

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