This week,

This. Is. Nuts.
Top level just being opened up now #AFLWGF pic.twitter.com/n1dN3DBVkp

— Sarah Black (@_sjblack) March 31, 2019

Welcome to Balls of Steel’s AFL Beat!

Round 2 Recaps and Highlights

We are back again and better than ever! Richmond started off the season with a handy win over Carlton, but it cost them their star defender Alex Rance. They would find out soon how that would affect them in another Australian Thursday night matchup which was actually late Wednesday night in North America.

This time, the Tigers faced the Collingwood Magpies, who were themselves hurting after losing to the Cats on opening day. Collingwood’s Jordan De Goey had a breakout game as he scored 5 goals and gave the Richmond defence fits.

To add another injury to insult, Tigers star forward Jack Riewoldt hurt his wrist and is expected to be out for a month. Here are the highlights:

The following night (in both Australia and North America), the Adelaide Crows traveled to Sydney to take on the Swans in a battle of first-round losers.

For some strange reason, both teams have played better on the road this year. Unfortunately for Sydney, this game was at home. Here are the highlights:

On proper Friday Night, the Essendon Bombers took on the St. Kilda Saints in their mutual home of Marvel Stadium. Even though the Bombers were technically the home team, the Saints made this their game.

The Saints dominated from the start and built up a nice cushion at Half Time. To their credit, the Bombers came back in the third to narrow the margin to a reasonable 10 points.

The fourth quarter was tense and hard-fought, but the Saints prevailed in the end with an 11 point victory. Here are the highlights:

Later that night, the Port Adelaide Power hosted the Carlton Blues in a game that started out much closer than I anticipated. At Quarter Time, the Blues were actually ahead!

The Power took advantage of a dominant second quarter to take the Half Time lead, but the plucky Blues came back to take the lead in the third.

In the fourth, the Power were finally able to get their running game going again, finished up the game strong, and got the win. Here are the highlights:

The first of the Late Late North American Friday night games had my Geelong Cats taking on the Melbourne Demons at home on a rainy night. I watched the replay on Saturday morning and it looked like a fun game to play in.

Especially for Geelong fans as the Cats were in control from the middle of the first quarter on. The Cats ended up winning by 80 without having to get physical with Max Gawn and are now in first place on the ladder.

Here are the highlights:

The second late late night game gave the West Coast Eagles a chance at home to make up for their stunning loss to the Brisbane Lions at The Gabba.

The Eagles took full advantage of their home field and crowd as they methodically took down the Giants. Only a small second quarter Giants surge disrupted a comprehensive Eagles victory.

Here are the highlights:

North American Saturday night brought three more games and I managed to watch two of them. The first had the Brisbane Lions visiting Marvel Stadium to take on the Kangaroos and try to prove to doubters that they are for real this year.

It was a very tough game throughout with North Melbourne building a lead in the first only for the Lions to chop it down. Then they built it up again and again, the Lions cut it down in the third. Then they built it back up in the early fourth.

Finally, the Lions decided enough was enough and scored 6 out of the last 7 goals in the game to kill the match. Here are the full-game highlights:

Later that night, I watched the Western Bulldogs play a very similar match against the Hawthorn Hawks. Similar in the sense that the Hawks took a lead, only for the Doggies to come back in the second. However, a big difference in this game was that the Hawks then built a 30 point lead at Three Quarter Time.

In what was one of the greatest fourth quarters I’ve seen, the Doggies then scored nine goals to one for Hawthorn and took the four points with them.

Here are the highlights:

The last game of the Round had the Fremantle Dockers visiting the Gold Coast Suns. Surprisingly, the game was low-scoring and close throughout. It ended up going to the last two minutes:

Here are the full-game highlights:

It’s early in the season, but we already have some unfamiliar faces at the top of the ladder, which is a nice thing. It will be fun to see if they stay there for a while.

Let’s take a look at the ladder, shall we?

P	TEAM	W	L	T	PTS	%
1	Geelong Cats	2	0	0	8	178.4
2	Brisbane Lions	2	0	0	8	144.1
3	Port Adelaide Power	2	0	0	8	131.6
4	Western Bulldogs	2	0	0	8	123.7
5	St. Kilda Saints	2	0	0	8	108.1
6	Fremantle Dockers	1	1	0	4	165.8
7	Collingwood Magpies	1	1	0	4	126.8
8	GWS Giants	1	1	0	4	113.9
9	Hawthorn Hawks	1	1	0	4	108.1
10	West Coast Eagles	1	1	0	4	105.2
11	Gold Coast Suns	1	1	0	4	101.4
12	Adelaide Crows	1	1	0	4	96.0
13	Richmond Tigers	1	1	0	4	93.7
14	Sydney Swans	0	2	0	0	74.7
15	Carlton Blues	0	2	0	0	73.5
16	North Melbourne Kangaroos	0	2	0	0	58.9
17	Essendon Bombers	0	2	0	0	55.9
18	Melbourne Demons	0	2	0	0	50.2

Here is the Balls Graph:

[gview file=”https://www.doorfliesopen.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/AFL-Ladder-2019R2.pdf”]

It’s always good to have your team at the top of the ladder, but it’s still early. A lot of things can and will happen. Just ask the Tigers…

***

Footy Tipping Contest

Here is where we are after Round Two:

P	TIPPER	Round Tips	Round Margin	Total Tips	Total Margin
1	Yeah Right	5	44	10	77
2	Blax	6	27	9	33
3	Litre_cola	4	47	9	47
4	BC Dick	5	34	9	67
5	BFC	4	63	9	85
6	Game Time Decision	5	44	8	59
7	BALLS	4	53	8	61
8	Sharkbait	4	31	8	64
9	Why Eagles Why	5	37	7	46
10	SonOfSpam	4	55	7	60
11		3	58	7	68
12	Dolph Ucker	1	52	5	56

A hearty welcome to Yeah Right and BC Dick to the competition! For some reason, your picks from last week weren’t reflected on the site until this week, but the good thing is you get credit for Round 1.

That means we have a new leader! Yeah Right is kicking ass and is one game clear of the pack. However, the competition is nice and tight, so well done everyone!

Special props to Blax for getting the Top Score this week!

We have more than 10 entries, so I WILL be offering a prize this year! If anyone wants to join in, click the link below and sign up!

https://mobile.footytips.com.au/competitions/?competitionId=401652

It’s free to join and it’s the ESPN Australia website, so it’s secure. Join in the fun!

DONT FORGET TO PUT THE FOOTY TIPS IN!

***

AFL Round 3

Here is the schedule for this week (all times Pacific):

Thursday, April 4, 2019

1:50 AM (Late Wednesday Night) – Adelaide Crows v Geelong Cats at Adelaide Oval

The Crows lost their last home game and won their road game. Will that trend continue?

Friday, April 5, 2019

1:50 AM (Late Thursday Night) – Melbourne Demons v Essendon Bombers at the MCG

Both teams are winless and at the bottom of the ladder. It’s a good thing this is on in the middle of the night.

7:45 PM – Carlton Blues v Sydney Swans at Marvel Stadium

The battles of winless teams continue! I’m curious to see if the Swans continue to play better on the road. It IS the Blues, though…

10:35 PM – GWS Giants v Richmond Tigers at Giants Stadium

Apparently, Spotless Stadium is now Giants Stadium. Someone must have spilled a meat pie with ketchup and didn’t clean up.

Saturday, April 6, 2019

1:25 AM – Brisbane Lions v Port Adelaide Power at the Gabba

The first battle of unbeatens promises to be quite interesting. If the Lions can win this one, they are for real in my book.

1:25 AM – Collingwood Magpies v West Coast Eagles at the MCG

This should be the Match Of The Round. It’s a Grand Final rematch and both teams have already lost this year.

9:20 PM – Western Bulldogs v Gold Coast Suns at Marvel Stadium

The surprising Doggies host a Suns team that I thought would go winless this year. Whoever wins this has the inside track for comeback team of the year.

10:20 PM – Hawthorn Hawks v North Melbourne Kangaroos at the MCG

The Hawks must be shocked at how they lost the game against the Doggies. I expect a much better game from them against the Roos.

Sunday, April 7, 2019

12:20 AM – Fremantle Dockers v St. Kilda Saints at Optus Stadium

The Saints will travel to Perth for their toughest test yet. If they can win this one, they may prove to be contenders this year.

***

AFLW Grand Final

In addition to Round Two of the AFL season, we also had the Grand Final of the AFLW competition!

This week, there was no crotch shot controversy and everything was focused on footy.

The game was originally scheduled for Norwood Oval, the AFLW Crows’ normal home ground, but demand for tickets was so high that it was moved to the Adelaide Oval, which hosts both AFL Adelaide Crows games and Port Adelaide Power games.

Over 53,000 fans showed up to cheer the Crows on, which is the highest attendance for an AFLW game ever. It is also the highest attendance for a women’s sporting event ever in Australia.

The Crows thanked their fans for their support with a sterling performance that ensured the Premiership was never in doubt.

The first quarter was close-ish, with the Crows taking a 9 point lead at the break. From the second quarter on, though, it was all Crows. The only negatives on the day for the Crows were the ACL tears of Chloe Scheer and Player of the Match Erin Phillips.

Despite that, the Crows rolled and celebrated at the end.

Here are the highlights:

That does it for the 2019 AFLW season! We have our first repeat champion, but things will undoubtedly change a lot next year when the Gold Coast Suns, St. Kilda Saints, Richmond Tigers, and West Coast Eagles join the league.

As more details come out for the 2020 competition, I’ll provide you updates.

***

Lady Footy Tipping Contest

The Footy Tipping Contest for AFLW is done! Congratulations again to SonOfSpam for being the big winner/weiner!

Here are the final standings:

P	TIPPER	Round  Tips	Round  Margin	Total Tips	Total Margin
1	Son of Spam	2	22	26	201
2	Dolph Ucker	2	21	24	224
3	Litre_cola	0	36	23	198
4	Mr. Ayo	1	36	23	216
5		2	16	22	182
6	BALLS	1	51	21	192
7	Sharkbait	1	136	20	514
8	Game Time Decision	1	48	17	213
9	BFC	1	48	15	232
10	Blax	0	36	15	484

Congratulations to SonofSpam for winning our competition! You, sir, will get a prize of your choosing. Luckily, I live relatively close to you, so I don’t need to mail it to you. I’ll be contacting you soon for details.

Thank you to everyone that participated this year! I’m happy that, through this contest and the weekly updates, we’ve given a little more exposure to a great women’s sport.

***

That’s all for this week! See you next week for AFL and next year for AFLW!

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