This week,

We had Indigenous guernseys everywhere!

Welcome to Balls of Steel’s AFL Beat!

The finals picture is starting to focus into shape. We had near-upsets and some good games amongst contenders.

There is much to go over. Let’s get right to it!

***

Week 5 Recaps

Geelong Cats 13 – 60 Richmond Tigers

You’ve got to give me credit. I did predict that Richmond would get its first win ever against the Cats. I just thought the game would be closer…

Here are the highlights:

Western Bulldogs 47 – 22 GWS Giants

The Doggies are on a great big roll and have won 4 straight! The Giants, meanwhile, are fading out of the playoff picture.

Here are the highlights:

Fremantle Dockers 14 – 25 Brisbane Lions

This was probably the Match of the Round. These were two great teams fighting each other. The Lions were too much for the Dockers in the second half, though.

Here are the highlights:

North Melbourne Kangaroos 59 – 37 Carlton Blues

The Roos were finally able to get back on track at the expense of the Blues, whose season is on the brink of disaster after having such high expectations going into the season.

Here are the highlights:

Adelaide Crows 61 – 8 St. Kilda Saints

This was a blowout from the beginning. The Saints never had a chance. The Crows are now looking extremely dangerous come Finals time!

Here are the highlights:

Collingwood Magpies 49 – 14 Melbourne Demons

Don’t let the score deceive you. This was a close game going into the fourth quarter. However, at that point the Pies stepped on the Demons’ necks and that was that. Collingwood is the only undefeated team left.

Here are the highlights:

West Coast Eagles 34 – 33 Gold Coast Suns

This match was a thriller up to the very end. West Coast joins Richmond in getting their first win of the year, leaving Gold Coast and Geelong as the only winless teams.

Here are the highlights:

***

Ladder

Here is how the teams stand after Round 5:

P	TEAM	W	L	T	PTS	%
1	Collingwood Magpies	5	0	0	20	211.5
2	Brisbane Lions	4	1	0	16	246.2
3	Fremantle Dockers	4	1	0	16	224.4
4	Adelaide Crows	4	1	0	16	202.6
5	Western Buldogs	4	1	0	16	135.2
6	North Melbourne Kangaroos	3	2	0	12	156.3
7	Melbourne Demons	3	2	0	12	105.3
8	Carlton Blues	2	3	0	8	97.4
9	St. Kilda Saints	2	3	0	8	67.7
10	GWS Giants	2	3	0	8	64.5
11	Richmond Tigers	1	4	0	0	83.8
12	West Coast Eagles	1	4	0	0	50.7
13	Gold Coast Suns	0	5	0	0	36.8
14	Gold Coast Suns	0	5	0	0	27.5

And now, the glorious return of the Balls GraphTM:

[gview file=”https://www.doorfliesopen.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/AFLW-Ladder-2021R5.pdf”]

***

Footy Tipping Contest

Here is how we stack up after Round 5:

P	TIPPER	Round Tips	Round Margin	Total Tips	Total Margin
1	SonOfSpam	6	36	27	90
2	BC Dick	5	30	25	69!
3	BALLS	6	38	24	94
4	Game Time Decision	5	33	23	107
5	BFC	6	21	21	58
6	Litre_cola	6	38	20	88
7		5	32	17	90

Everyone did really well this week, but there were some misses, which allowed some of us to catch up. Great job to everybody for putting their tips in!

I remind you, as always,

DON’T FORGET TO PUT THE FOOTY TIPS IN!

***

Balls’ Sechs

• It’s now clearly a 7 team race for 6 Finals spots. I don’t think Carlton, St. Kilda, or the Giants have anything to challenge the top teams.
• I quote from last week: “I will now promptly proclaim the Fremantle Dockers the best team in the competition and watch them lose next week just to prove that I’m an idiot.” Never forget my capacity to be an idiot.
• Collingwood is the real deal. I really like how they came back from a weak third quarter in which Melbourne threatened to come back and completely pulverized the Demons in the fourth. That’s the sign of a great team.
• It was nice that Richmond and West Coast got their first wins of the season. The way they’re playing, they won’t be their last.
• In the race to the Wooden Spoon, Geelong and Gold Coast flip-flopped spots this week due to percentage. It’s most likely going to be like that for the rest of the season.
• Fremantle fell all the way to third from the top. Brisbane has a large percentage advantage, so any slip-ups from the Pies could put the Lions in the #1 spot.

***

Round Six Schedule

As of now, the schedule stands as written below.

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

Thursday, March 4, 2021

12:10 AM – Richmond Tigers v North Melbourne Kangaroos at Swinburne Center

Friday, March 5, 2021

8:10 PM – GWS Giants v Brisbank Lions at Manuka Oval

10:10 PM – Adelaide Crows v Gold Coast Suns at Norwood Oval

Saturday, March 6, 2021

12:10 AM – Melbourne Demons v St. Kilda Saints at Casey Fields

5:40 PM – Carlton Blues v Geelong Cats at Ikon Park

7:40 PM – Collingwood Magpies v Western Bulldogs at Victoria Park

9:40 PM – West Coast Eagles v Fremantle Dockers at Optus Stadium

***

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