This week, there was havoc caused by COVID on the schedule, some frontrunners are appearing, and last year’s Wooden Spooner notched its first win of the year!

Welcome to Balls of Steel’s AFL Beat!

I hope you all were able to see the notice I put in the Sexy Friday post about some matchups changing. It was very last minute and I didn’t see it until i was about to start watching the games.

Apparently, the Western Bulldogs and the Brisbane Lions were both severely short of players due to COVID restrictions and other injuries. The Doggies were scheduled to play Geelong in Geelong while the Lions were supposed to host Carlton.

Since Geelong and Carlton both had full squads, the AFLW decided to have them play each other in Geelong. It is presumed that the Doggies and Lions will get a makeup game at some point in the season.

Lots of other things happened this weekend. Let’s get right to it!

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Week 2 Recaps

Richmond Tigers 38 – 54 Melbourne Demons

The Tigers fought bravely, but were ultimately no match for the Demons. This was a good high-scoring game that showed how exciting this game can be.

Here are the highlights:

Collingwood Magpies 41 – St. Kilda Saints 14

The Pies are looking pretty darn good right about now. They did not have Chloe Molloy and others and still dominated the Saints.

Here are the highlights:

Geelong Cats 17 – 31 Carlton Blues

The Cats keep looking better, but they’re still not at the level of the better teams. The Blues’ experience proved to be the difference.

Here are the highlights:

West Coast Eagles 33 – 46 Gold Coast Suns

What an amazing fourth quarter from the Suns! They scored 5 goals unanswered to take their first win of the season!

Here are the highlights:

Adelaide Crows 37 – 24 North Melbourne Kangaroos

In what I thought was going to be the Match of The Round, the Crows showed why they are Premiership favourites. North played hard and well, but it wasn’t enough to overcome what Adelaide brought to the table.

Here are the highlights:

Fremantle Dockers 52 – 20 GWS Giants

I hope that Yeah Right is supporting the AFLW Dockers because if there is one team that looks to be able to challenge Adelaide, it’s them. Here are the highlights:

Western Bulldogs and Brisbane Lions did not play

As discussed above, COVID protocols forced these teams to not play this week. Instead of game highlights, here is a video of Rick Steves in the Alps:

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Ladder

Here is how the teams stand after Round 2. Please note that Western and Brisbane have one game less.

P	TEAM	W	L	T	PTS	%
1	Fremantle Dockers	2	0	0	8	271.4
2	Adelaide Crows	2	0	0	8	230.3
3	Collingwood Magpies	2	0	0	8	217.9
4	Melbourne Demons	2	0	0	8	166.7
5	Richmond Tigers	1	1	0	4	128.6
6	Gold Coast Suns	1	1	0	4	97.1
7	Carlton Blues	1	1	0	4	91.8
8	North Melbourne Kangaroos	1	1	0	4	90.9
9	GWS Giants	1	1	0	4	76.7
10	Geelong Cats	0	2	0	0	61.4
11	West Coast Eagles	0	2	0	0	53.9
12	Western Bulldogs	0	1	0	0	47.8
13	West Coast Eagles	0	2	0	0	36.3
14	Brisbane Lions	0	1	0	0	23.1

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Balls Graph

Here it is in all its glory:

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Footy Tipping Contest

Here is how we stack up after Round 2:

P	TIPPER	Round Tips	Round Margin	Total Tips	Total Margin
1	Dok Zymm	6	9	13	47
2	Game Time Decision	6	1	12	39
3	SonOfSpam	5	2	11	27
4	Dolph Ucker	6	5	11	43
5	Litre_cola	5	8	10	59
6	Fronkenshteen	6	9	8	47
7	BALLS	4	10	8	62
8	BFC	4	7	8	66
9		3	1	7	55

Dok Zymm not only joined the competition, but she is in the lead with a PERFECT two weeks! She is making it clear that she wants Spam’s Gently-Used Fleshlight! Fronk has also joined the competition!

As you see, there is still time for others to join this year’s competition and you can get credit for correct tips from previous weeks, so get in the pool, the water is fine! Please follow the link below to join in the fun:

https://mobile.footytips.com.au/competitions/?competitionId=454009&ff=ladders

I remind you, as always,

DON’T FORGET TO PUT THE FOOTY TIPS IN!

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Balls’ Sechs

• COVID continues to cause changes to the schedule as the two West Australian teams still cannot play their “home” games in Western Australia.
• The impression I got from the first weekend of games that the gap between the good teams and the bad teams has shortened continues to hold true. Gold Coast got its first win of the year and Geelong played better against the Blues.
• I cannot wait until the Fremantle Dockers play the Adelaide Crows. The winner of that game is your Premiership favourite.
• The Pies impressed me with how easily they beat the Saints even though they were missing a LOT of good players. They should make Finals and could make some noise once they’re there.
• The Prespakis sisters played against each other in Geelong. Maddy is the older sister and plays for the Blues while Georgina is a star rookie with the Cats.
• The Match of the Round next week looks to be Western v Carlton. Let’s hope COVID doesn’t cancel that one…

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Round Three Schedule

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

Friday, January 21, 2022

12:10 AM – Geelong Cats v Collingwood Magpies at GMHBA Stadium

5:40 PM – West Coast Eagles v Adelaide Crows at Swinburne Centre

8:10 PM – Melbourne Demons v St. Kilda Saints at Casey Fields

10:10 PM – Richmond Tigers v Fremantle Dockers at Swinburne Centre

Saturday, January 22, 2022

12:10 AM – Gold Coast Suns v Brisbane Lions at Metricon Stadium

6:10 PM – North Melbourne Kangaroos v GWS Giants at Arden Street Oval

8:10 PM – Western Bulldogs v Carlton Blues at Whitten Oval

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