After a thrilling Opening Round that saw both the defending regular season champion and the Grand Final champion go down in defeat, the big question this week was how would the losers react.  Would they bounce back to keep everyone in the competition fairly close or would we start to see some separation?  For the answers to these questions, a new Australian footballer to meet, and much more, READ ON!

Welcome to Balls of Steel’s AFL Beat!

The Round started with an epic Friday Night Footy (Thursday late night/Friday early morning in North America) clash between Richmond and Collingwood.  Yes, I woke up early (3:30 AM Pacific!) to watch the second half of the game prior to going to work and it was worth it.  The game was back and forth the whole time with no team getting too far in front.  Then, just as it seemed that Richmond had pulled the game out, this happened:

Holy shit, right? The result leaves both teams at 1-1 for the year.  Perhaps the thing I love best is that a guy named Brodie won the game.

On proper Friday night (Saturday in Australia), the Adelaide Crows hosted the Port Adelaide Power in the latest version of the Showdown.  Apparently, no one told Port Adelaide as the Crows started well and then hit cruise control for a resounding 144-86 victory. I’m actually surprised Port got to 86.  For the entire first quarter, it seemed they would be lucky to make it past 50 for the whole game.  Of course, my favorite player, Eddie Betts, had a big game

scoring five goals while turning the Showdown into the Beatdown.

I’m glad that this was not the game that WhyEaglesWhy picked to take his parents to.

We were lucky that there was another game on at roughly the same time as the Adelaide blowout.  The unfortunate part is that it was Essendon-Melbourne, the worst team in the league vs the team I hate the most.  On the bright side, it turned out to be a great game!  The teams traded the lead ten times before the Bombers finally emerged winners by 13.  Here is Darcy Parish (I dare you to find me a more Commonwealthy-name other than Hamish than Darcy!) scoring the goal that in essence put the game away:

With the win, Essendon assures themselves of not suffering a Detroit Lions/Tampa Bay Buccaneers-esque winless season.  That also knocks Melbourne down a notch, just like any right-thinking Demon hater would like.  That’s what I call a great

I fell asleep before the late games which was probably a good call as they ended up being blowouts.  In the earliest game, the Brisbane Lions hosted the North Melbourne Kangaroos.  The home field advantage helped for about a half as the Lions played well and led a couple of times during the second quarter.  About midway through the second, however, the Kangaroos found their stride and took over the game.  It ended with a 83-117 North victory.

One of the high points was Jarrad Waite’s 300th

Later that evening, the St. Kilda Saints and the Western Bulldogs met at the Etihad. I wish Miss Fisher

could figure out a way to get the Saints to play better.  They did better than Fremantle did last week against the Doggies, but not by much.  The Doggies won this one by 57 and are firmly entrenched at the top of the ladder.  Here is an example of how Western can convert a turnover in its defensive 50 into a goal lightning quick:

Speaking of Fremantle,

they are getting their asses smacked more than those on the video.  This time, it was the Gold Coast Suns doing the smacking as they beat the reeling Dockers 126-100.  BTW, keep watching the video until the song is over to get a funny surprise.

* * *

This

is the current AFL Brownlow Medal winner (AFL MVP) and star midfielder of the Fremantle Dockers, Nat Fyfe.  While he looks like he could be running a “farm” in Oregon, he is actually the best thing going on at Fremantle right now.  He debuted with the Dockers in 2010 and signed an extension in 2014 keeping him at the club until the end of 2017.  Here are a few selected Q&As from the Fremantle Dockers website:

If you weren’t a footballer, what would you like to be: I’ve always thought of being a water bombing helicopter pilot. Incorporates a few different things that I’m interested in and can be helpful to the community

If you could ask someone to be your mentor, who would it be: Probably the Dalai Lama

How many text messages do you send a day: I’m a very antisocial person. Maybe a handful

Most embarrassing song in your iTunes: A like a bit of John Mayer every now and again when I’m feeling a bit gloomy

What sport would you like to compete in, at the 2016 Olympics: Archery

Can you change a spare tyre: Yes

Do you iron your own shirts: No

Do you believe in UFO’s: Yes

What three items would you take on a desert island: A knife to cut down trees, rope and flint

Nat comes across a very practical, gloomy, anti-social, and sensitive John Mayer fan, which makes a lot of sense, if you think about it.

***

On North American Saturday night, Geelong traveled to Canberra to take on the GWS Giants in one of the four “home” games for the Giants in Australia’s capital.  GWS were surely disappointed at dropping what seemed to be an easy win against Melbourne last week and played like it.  They were more aggressive towards the ball and demolished the Cats on clearances as they ran out to a 37 point lead in the third.  The Cats came storming back to get within a goal, but inaccuracy in front of goal doomed them, as it had all game, and they could never get over the hump.  The final score was a well-deserved 89-76 victory for the Giants.

The main subplot to this game, of course, was that this was the first game for Stevie Johnson as a Giant after starring for the Cats for many years.  He did well

but it wasn’t all him.  His teammates played really well too

There were not too many highlights for the Cats, but this goal by Tom Hawkins was pretty unusual and cool as he, on the run, “soccered” in a goal from 55 meters out:

Later on Saturday night, Hawthorn took on West Coast in a rematch of last year’s Grand Final.  The final margin was exactly the same as last year as the Hawks won easily by 46. This highlight is a perfect example of what makes the Hawks so good.  They pressure the ball up high and convert turnovers into easy scores:

The last match of the weekend featured the Sydney Swans taking on King Hippo’s Carlton Blues.  You know I did say that Carlton would be much better this year.  That may still be true, but going against Sydney was too much.  The Swans dominated the Blues as Sill claims bragging rights over Hippo after a 60 point drubbing.   Here are a couple of Sydney’s youngsters contributing to the team’s win:

Remember that I said that the key to Sydney’s season would be how the new blood would fit in? Yeah, Sydney look like a really dangerous team right now.  Let’s take a look at the ladder, shall we?

The Western Bulldogs are far and away the #1 team in the competition right now, but they face their first real test against Hawthorn next week. Then we will see exactly how good they really are. Here is the schedule for Round 3 (All times Pacific):

Friday April 8

Port Adelaide v Essendon at Adelaide Oval (2.50 AM)

St Kilda v Collingwood at MCG (8.45pm)

Richmond v Adelaide at Etihad Stadium (9.10pm)

Sydney Swans v GWS Giants at SCG (11.35pm)

Saturday April 9

Gold Coast Suns v Carlton at Metricon Stadium (2.25 AM)

West Coast Eagles v Fremantle at Subiaco Oval (2.40 AM)

North Melbourne v Melbourne at Blundstone Arena (8.10pm)

Western Bulldogs v Hawthorn at Etihad Stadium (10.20pm)

Geelong v Brisbane Lions at Simonds Stadium (11.40pm)

There are going to be some great games next week including the Perth Derby, the Sydney Derby, and Bulldogs-Hawks!

Before I leave you, I want to share an article that I saw on the AFL website where the chief of the AFL (Roger Goodell’s equivalent) speaks on gambling and the Essendon scandal.  The money quotes are as follows:

“I’m also real about wagering – we are better off having relationships with wagering companies than not because we get access to information. We can protect the integrity of our competition.”

Speaking of the Essendon scandal and the role of the players in it, he says, “I’ve seen all the documentation and emails and things and I know, in my view, fundamentally, they were let down. So I don’t blame them, I never have.”

Do you think in a million years those words would come out of Goodell’s mouth?!?  Reason#…. you know the deal, but never forget:  Roger Goodell is a National Disgrace.

See you next week.