This week…

A South Park character just might be the second-best player on the #1 team in the competition:

A Crow gets a new phone:

and the St. Kilda Saints St. Kilda Saint:

Welcome to Balls of Steel’s AFL Beat!

Thankfully, there were no off-field issues to report this week, so we can really just focus on the action on the pitch. 

Well, except for the second picture above.  Adelaide’s Reilly O’Brien got into a bit of hot water in the build-up to the game against the West Coast Eagles when he tweeted out some motivational game notes by mistake.  In those notes, he said that Eagles star Nic Naitanui was “lazy and unfit”.  He quickly erased the tweet and showed a picture of the broken screen on his phone that caused the malfunction.

You know that motivated Nic Nat.

The two ruck men played against each other all day. Reilly knew he had to come up big as his words could easily come back to bite him. It was a good and clean contest with each player having good moments and Nic Nat slightly getting the better of O’Brien.  After the Eagles won the game, Nic Nat found Reilly and gave him a new phone, courtesy of Australian cell phone provider Telstra, who happens to be an AFL sponsor.

That was a classy move by Nic Nat and a good end to a potentially embarrasing situation.  Another reason why I love this league!

Here are the results and highlights from Round Six:

Thursday, July 9, 2020

Geelong Cats 73 v Brisbane Lions 46 at the SCG

BIG win for the Cats against the #2 team in the comp.  That huge 3rd quarter was the difference.

Friday, July 10, 2020

Collingwood Magpies 59 v Hawthorn Hawks 27 at Giants Stadium

On a day when the odds were against them, the Pies pulled out an important win. 

Fremantle Dockers 79 v St. Kilda Saints 73 at Metricon Stadium

This was a fun game to watch with the DFOers on the Sexy Friday thread. What a comeback!  Here are the last two minutes:

and here are the full-game highlights:

West Coast Eagles 67 v Adelaide Crows 34 at The Gabba

Granted, it was the Crows, but the Eagles are back!  That’s two wins in a row.

Saturday, July 11, 2020

Melbourne Demons 80 v Gold Coast Suns 63 at Giants Stadium

This loss is worrying for the Sunnies. One star being out shouldn’t affect them this much.

Essendon Bombers 67 v North Melbourne Kangaroos 53 at Metricon Stadium

The Bombers took care of the Roos and are looking good!

Port Adelaide Power 63 v GWS Giants 46 at Metricon Stadium

This was a close game until the fourth when the Power blew it wide open. 

Richmond Tigers 34 v Sydney Swans 26 at the Gabba

This game had so many missed scoring opportunities, it might as well have been my dating life in the 90s.

Sunday, July 12, 2020

Carlton Blues 103 v Western Bulldogs 51 at Metricon Stadium

A solid all-around performance from the Blues. They’ve been waiting years for this. Let’s see if they can keep it up.

***

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

Here is the Balls Graph^TM:

[gview file=”https://www.doorfliesopen.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/AFL-Ladder-2020R6.pdf”]

***

Footy Tipping Contest

Here is where we are after Round Six:

We have a three-way tie at the top of the standings!  Good job to BFC, Litre_cola, and BC Dick for getting top scores this week!  It’s still super tight at the top, so good job to everyone!

Remember how I always remind you to put the Footy Tips in with a picture of a girl’s feet?  Well, this week forgetting to put the tips in cost Reverend Mayhem and Maestro as they got zero points.  Let that be a lesson to all of you!  As always,

DON’T FORGET TO PUT THE FOOTY TIPS IN!

***

I’ve been providing, for your advanced Tipping reference, the schedule for the next few rounds (All times Pacific).  Late yesterday, the AFL announced the schedule for Round 8. Here then are the schedules for Rounds Seven and Eight: 

Round Seven

Thursday, July 16, 2020

3″10 AM – Geelong Cats v Collingwood Magpies at Optus Stadium (new time, same matchup)

Friday, July 17, 2020

2:50 AM – Essendon Bombers v Western Bulldogs at Metricon Stadium (new time, same matchup)

8:45 PM – GWS Giants v Brisbane Lions at Giants Stadium

11:35 PM – Sydney Swans v Gold Coast Suns at the SCG

Saturday, July 18, 2020

2:40 AM – Richmond Tigers v North Melbourne Kangaroos at Metricon Stadium

8:05 PM – Carlton Blues v Port Adelaide Power at the Gabba 

10:35 PM – Hawthorn Hawks v Melbourne Demons at Giants Stadium 

Sunday, July 19, 2020

1:35 AM – Fremantle Dockers v West Coast Eagles at Optus Stadium

Monday, July 20, 2020

2:40 AM – Adelaide Crows v St. Kilda Saints at Adelaide Oval (new day, same matchup)

Round Eight

Thursday, July 23, 2020

2:40 AM – Gold Coast Suns v Western Bulldogs at Metricon Stadium

Friday, July 24, 2020

2:50 AM – GWS Giants v Richmond Tigers at Giants Stadium

8:05 PM – North Melbourne Kangaroos v Carlton Blues at The Gabba

10:35 PM – Sydney Swans v Hawthorn Hawks at the SCG

Saturday, July 25, 2020

2:40 AM – Port Adelaide Power v St. Kilda Saints at Adelaide Oval

8:05 PM – Adelaide Crows v Essendon Bombers at Adelaide Oval

10:35 PM – West Coast Eagles v Collingwood Magpies at Optus Stadium

Sunday, July 26, 2020

1:10 AM – Melbourne Demons v Brisbane Lions at Metricon Stadium

Monday, July 27, 2020

3:10 AM – Fremantle Dockers v Geelong Cats at Optus Stadium

There is still no word on how the schedule will need to be adjusted to fit in the postponed Essendon-Melbourne game.  

***

Without further ado, it’s

Balls’ Sechs

1- Both West Coast and Richmond won again but not very convincingly.  Both let their inferior opponents hang around too long.  In Richmond’s case, Sydney could have easily stolen the game if it wasn’t for their enthusiasm for hitting posts.

2- Every “home” team won in this Round.  Granted, there are no actual home teams since Gold Coast, Sydney, GWS, and Brisbane were all on the road, but still it was kinda weird to see. 

3- The Carlton Blues are back in the win column and are now in the Eight after a good win against a resurgent Western Bulldogs side. It’s a gigantic improvement over the last two seasons.

4- The Port Adelaide Power are for real.  Their win against the in-form GWS Giants proved they can beat anyone in the competition. At the same time, the secret #1 team in the competition could be the Essendon Bombers.  If their game against Melbourne had not been cancelled, they would likely be tied with Port on points at the top of the ladder.

5- I’m a bit concerned about Gold Coast’s loss to Melbourne.  If this is a start of a losing streak, all the good work that the team has put in to improve could become undone. 

6- Next week’s marquee game will be the Geelong Cats v Collingwood Magpies in Perth.  After this week’s surprising Pies win over the Hawks, this shapes up as a hell of a game.  Too bad it’s on in the middle of the night on a workday AGAIN!

***

That’s all for this week.  

As discussed last week, Fox Sports has the rights to the AFL in the United States while TSN has the rights in Canada and the AFL is pressuring them to have more games available on the FS1, FS2, and TSN networks. Now is the perfect chance for you to see what all the fun is about! 

Not only that,  but ESPN has jumped back into the AFL pool! They’ll be broadcasting one game per week live on an ESPN network and streaming another live on ESPN3.

You can find the latest broadcast information on the Australian Football Association of North America website here.

Here is your Round 7 live broadcast schedule with North American broadcast partner:

Round Seven

Thursday, July 16, 2020

3:10 AM – Geelong Cats v Collingwood Magpies at Optus Stadium (ESPN3, TSN3)

Friday, July 17, 2020

2:50 AM – Essendon Bombers v Western Bulldogs at Metricon Stadium (FS1, TSN5)

8:45 PM – GWS Giants v Brisbane Lions at Giants Stadium (FS2)

11:35 PM – Sydney Swans v Gold Coast Suns at the SCG

Saturday, July 18, 2020

2:40 AM – Richmond Tigers v North Melbourne Kangaroos at Metricon Stadium (ESPN2, ETSN1)

8:05 PM – Carlton Blues v Port Adelaide Power at the Gabba (FS2)

10:35 PM – Hawthorn Hawks v Melbourne Demons at Giants Stadium (FS1, TSN1)

Sunday, July 19, 2020

1:35 AM – Fremantle Dockers v West Coast Eagles at Optus Stadium (FS1)

2:40 AM – Adelaide Crows v St. Kilda Saints at Adelaide Oval

See you next week!