AFL Beat 2019 Pre-Finals Bye Week

This week,

Here we go!!
Who’s still #1?
And here is your All-Australian team!

No games were played as the AFL took a week off to “celebrate Footy” like they were Rex Ryan. However, there is precious content for you to devour early on this Labour Day. Let’s get to it!

Welcome to Balls of Steel’s AFL Beat!

There are no recaps this week as there were no games. Actually, that’s not exactly fair. There was ONE game, but it was the annual E.J. Whitten Game in which former stars play an exhibition for charity. It’s usually good fun and it’s for a good cause. This year, they played using AFLX rules. Here is a video of the whole game:

***

2019 Season Predictions Review

Before we get into the Finals preview, let’s look back at the beginning of the year and remind ourselves how I thought that everyone was going to finish and compare it to how they actually finished:

TeamLast Year FinishPreseson RecordThis Year Predicted FinishActual Finish
Carlton Blues181-11616
Gold Coast Suns171-11818
St. Kilda Saints162-01314
Brisbane Lions152-0152
Fremantle Dockers140-21413
Western Bulldogs130-2177
Adelaide Crows121-1711
Essendon Bombers110-2128
Port Adelaide Power101-1910
North Melbourne Kangaroos90-21012
Geelong Cats81-161
GWS Giants71-186
Sydney Swans61-1515
Melbourne Demons50-21117
Hawthorn Hawks40-2410
Collingwood Magpies32-024
West Coast Eagles 22-015
Richmond Tigers12-033

Here are the final ladder standings:

PTEAMWLTPTS%
1Geelong Cats166064135.7
2Brisbane Lions166064118.3
3Richmond Tigers166064113.7
4Collingwood Magpies157060117.7
5West Coast Eagles157060112.5
6GWS Giants139052115.4
7Western Bulldogs1210048107.2
8Essendon Bombers121004895.4
9Hawthorn Hawks1111044108.7
10Port Adelaide Power1111044105.4
11Adelaide Crows1012040100.9
12North Melbourne Kangaroos101204099.5
13Fremantle Dockers91303691.9
14St. Kilda Saints91303683.9
15Sydney Swans81403297.7
16Carlton Blues71502884.5
17Melbourne Demons51702078.6
18Gold Coast Suns31901260.5

An here is the final Balls Graph of the season:

[gview file=”https://www.doorfliesopen.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/AFL-Ladder-2019R23.pdf”]

Not to toot my own horn (God knows I do that enough already), but that’s not too shabby!!

The big misses were Sydney, Melbourne, Hawthorn, Western Bulldogs, and, of course, the Brisbane Lions. To be fair, no one could have foreseen the terrific rise of the Lions. I knew Melbourne would be bad, but I didn’t think they would be THAT terrible. See, kids? You do get happy surprises in life every once in a while!

I nailed the correct finishing position for Richmond, Carlton, and Gold Coast and I was within one or two positions (percentage, really) of getting St. Kilda, Fremantle, Port Adelaide, and North Melbourne correctly placed.

Finally, I got five out of the final Eight correct at the beginning of the season.

***

Footy Tipping Contest

Here is where we are after the end of the Home and Away Season:

PTIPPERRound
Tips
Round
Margin
Total TipsTotal Margin
1Litre_cola813132644
2Son Of Spam814129669
3BFC719129722
4BALLS842122763
5BC Dick74120794
6Dolph Ucker65117685
7Why Eagles Why738114688
8Yeah Right517114868
9710111797
10Game Time Decision728110734
11Sharkbait25961125
12SunriseSunrise7192744
12Blax2585614

Remember that we go all the way through to the Grand Final. There is still time to catch the leader and the person in front of you in the standings!

DONT FORGET TO PUT THE FOOTY TIPS IN!

***

AFL Finals Week 1 Preview

Here is how the Finals bracket shapes up:

Here is the schedule for Finals Week 1 (all times Pacific):

Thursday, September 5, 2019

3:10 AM (Late Wednesday Night!) – West Coast Eagles v Essendon Bombers at Optus Stadium

This is the First Elimination Final. Winner goes on to meet the loser of Geelong v Collingwood on the road. Loser goes home.

It shapes up as a pretty even game if you consider form going into the match. West Coast has not been playing well and have lost some players to injury late in the season. On the other side, Essendon is playing better after a rough patch in the middle to late end of the season where it looked like they might lose their spot in the Eight.

As it is, they finished eight after dropping out of seventh while the Eagles finished fifth after dropping out of the Top Four. What I’m saying is these two teams are not exactly setting the league on fire.

There are two factors, one for each team, that could prove decisive:

1) The Eagles are playing at home, where they always play well and have a nice home-field advantage.

2) The Bombers are getting key personnel back from injury for the first time in a long time.

Prediction: I think it will be a close game with the Bombers pulling off the upset in the final moments.

Friday, September 6, 2019

2:50 AM (Late Thursday Night!) – Geelong Cats v Collingwood Magpies at the MCG

This is the First Qualifying Final. Winner gets a bye into the Preliminary Finals. Loser faces the winner of West Coast v Essendon at home.

The big controversy of the last two weeks has been Geelong coach Chris Scott making public statements about how it’s not fair that the Cats play a “Home Final” in their opponent’s home ground. And he’s 100% correct. It’s absolute bullshit that teams like GWS can play a home final at their ground which holds 24,000 while the Cats, whose home in Kardinia Park holds 36,000, must play at the MCG because the AFL wants a bigger crowd at the game.

That’s NFL-style greed and it’s wrong.

In any case, there’s nothing to do about it because they’re not changing it this year. It’s now a matter of whether the Cats can beat a good team, a road crowd, and the history of not playing well after bye weeks.

Prediction: I say they can and they will. Cats win.

10:20 PM – Greater Western Sydney v Western Bulldogs at Giants Stadium

This is the Second Elimination Final. Winner goes on to meet the loser of Brisbane v Richmond on the road. Loser goes home.

The Giants have struggled at the tail end of the season while the Doggies were flying and vaulted into the Eight in the last two weeks. Furthermore, the Doggies and Giants met at this same stadium three weeks ago in Round 22 and the Doggies absolutely mauled the Giants 126-65.

Are we going to have a repeat?

I say no. There are several reasons I say that. For one, Stephen Coniglio has now committed himself to the Giants for the rest of his career, so that whole controversy and uncertainty is finished. That should allow the Giants to focus better on the task at hand. Second, the Giants played their absolutely worst game of the season against the Doggies. There is no way they play the same. Third, the Giants should have learned some lessons from that game.

On the other end, the Doggies were riding a wave of momentum and might be a little rusty coming off the bye. They are also young and inexperienced, so the finals pressure might get to them.

Prediction: It should be a MUCH closer game than the one three weeks ago. I say the Giants go back to playing the way they did earlier in the year and pull out a close and exciting game at the finish.

Saturday, September 7, 2019

2:25 AM (Late Friday Night!) – Brisbane Lions v Richmond Tigers at The Gabba

This is the Second Qualifying Final. The winner gets a bye into the Preliminary Finals. The loser faces the winner of GWS v Western at home.

This is another game in which the two teams played each other recently. In fact, they played each other in Round 23 at the MCG. While the Lions lost the game, they won most of the statistical categories and, notwithstanding a bad first quarter, were even with Richmond the whole game.

Most of the Australian media jumped on the Lions bandwagon after that game, thinking that it showed that the Lions could beat anyone anywhere. I’m not that convinced. If they could have, they would have beaten the Tigers in Round 23.

Now, this game is being held in Brisbane at The Gabba, so that should help the cause. In addition, playing the Tigers at the MCG DID give the Lions a taste of the finals atmosphere and pressure, so they will be much better prepared for this game than they were for the Round 23 game.

Prediction: All of this adds up to a Brisbane win at home with the Tigers still alive for the Premiership thanks to the Double Chance.

***

That’s all for this week! Next week, we’ll have recaps of all the games and a preview of Week 2. See you next week!

(104/69)

0 0 votes
Article Rating
ballsofsteelandfury
Balls somehow lost his bio and didn't realize it. He's now scrambling to write something clever and failing. He likes butts, boobs, most things that start with the letter B, and writing in the Second Person. Geelong, Toluca, Barcelona, and Steelers, in that order.
Subscribe
Notify of
14 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
BrettFavresColonoscopy

As always, injuries have been a huge problem for the Giants, and Nick Haynes being out with a fucking fractured larynx is a big deal and a problem since he’s been carrying the GWS defense.

Sharkbait

Day 1 of resisting oxycodone. Am I doing this to see how much the shoulder actually hurts? Yes. Am I also going pill free to have a drink on this holiday? Most definitely.

scotchnaut

+10 Priorities

Game Time Decision

But if it’s too much take the pill. Better to be comfortable and not drinking than the other way around

Sharkbait

Oh yeah, I plan to. So far so good though. Still thinking I’ll take it before bed.

Game Time Decision

The convo’s I had with Mrs. GTD when she was on oxi after surgery still make me laugh.

scotchnaut

In my fantasy league wr Ridley is only projected for 8 and a bit points next week. I’m laughing because he’s a young Reggie Wayne, no doubt.*

*he has the talent of a #1 wr but he’s got a teammate that overshadows him so he always gets single coverage

yeah right

Anyone else firing up the grill again? Just your basic dogs, corn, pork chops kind of day.

Rikki-Tikki-Deadly

I already did. Had a steak for breakfast and will soon be making some enchiladas.

Game Time Decision

Chicken, potatoes and corn on the grill for dinner. But I grill most weekends and year round. Damn the snow

Rikki-Tikki-Deadly

Naomi Osaka in trouble at Flushing Meadows…
comment image

ArmedandHammered

For the Ash Barty match as she was losing, I turned to my wife and said, “This Ash Barty, I shall call her Billie as she is coming up short.” I then spent 10 minutes explaining the joke.

Rikki-Tikki-Deadly

THIS BALLS OF STEEL I CALL HIM DRACO MALFOY CAUSE THOSE LIONS MADE HIM LOOK LIKE A CHUMP.

Game Time Decision

Balls is an albino? Who knew