This week…

We have finished the second shitload of games in a row and we have almost finished the regular season:

Welcome to Balls of Steel’s AFL Beat!

Here are the results and highlights from Round Seventeen:

Thursday, September 10, 2020

St. Kilda Saints 50 v West Coast Eagles 65 at The Gabba

The Saints had a good first quarter and that was basically it. The Eagles, as expected, win again despite many injuries.

Friday, September 11, 2020

Geelong Cats 31 v Richmond Tigers 57 at Metricon Stadium

The weather contributed to the low score, but it was just a bad bad night for the Cats.

North Melbourne Kangaroos 35 v Fremantle Dockers 99 at Metricon Stadium

It was a pretty one-sided game. Yeah Right was a happy camper.

Port Adelaide Power 79 v Essendon Bombers 29 at Adelaide Oval

Essendon played well for a quarter but then Port took over and inflicted another beating.

Saturday, September 12, 2020

GWS Giants 74 v Melbourne Demons 79 at The Gabba

Another WTF game from the Giants and the Demons. It went down to the last two minutes:

Here are the full game highlights:

Carlton Blues 56 v Adelaide Crows 72 at Metricon Stadium

The Crows exploded out of the gate and then held off a furious Blues comeback attempt.

Hawthorn Hawks 40 v Western Bulldogs 76 at Adelaide Oval

The Doggies cruised and are now in the picture for finals. The Hawks need the season to be over now.

Sunday, September 13, 2020

Sydney Swans 41 v Bribane Lions 73 at Cazaly’s Stadium, Cairns

The Lions have not assured themselves of a Top Two spot and two finals at home.

Monday, September 14, 2020

Collingwood Magpies 68 v Gold Coast Suns 46 at The Gabba

The Pies assured themselves a finals spot with a convincing win over the Sunnies. 

***

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/2020/09/AFL-Ladder-2020R17.pdf”]

***

Footy Tipping Contest

Here is where we are after Round Seventeen:

Congratulations to Sharkbait for joining me in getting top score this week and for getting that particular number in margin.  Ozzy approves.  On the other side of the ladder, a wonderful week by Dolph Ucker saw him shoot up the standings to take sole posession of first place!  SonOfSpam fell all the way to third with BFC taking the 2nd spot. It’s going to be a tight race all the way to the end!

I remind 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). There is only one Round left: 

Round Eighteen

Thursday, September 17, 2020

2:10 AM – North Melbourne Kangaroos v West Coast Eagles at Metricon Stadium

Friday, September 18, 2020

2:50 AM – St. Kilda Saints v GWS Giants at The Gabba

9:10 PM – Essendon Bombers v Melbourne Demons at Metricon Stadium

Saturday, September 19, 2020

12:10 AM – Adelaide Crows v Richmond Tigers at Adelaide Oval

2:10 AM – Brisbane Lions v Carlton Blues at The Gabba

8:05 PM – Hawthorn Hawks v Gold Coast Suns at Adelaide Oval

10:35 PM – Sydney Swans v Geelong Cats at Metricon Stadium

Sunday, September 20, 2020

1:10 AM – Fremantle Dockers v Western Bulldogs at Cazaly’s Stadium in Cairns

Monday, September 21, 2020

2:15 AM – Collingwood Magpies v Port Adelaide Power at The Gabba

***

Without further ado, it’s

Balls’ Sechs

1- The Cats’ key to a Premiership is to avoid Richmond.  They need to hope someone else knocks off the Tigers on a bad night because clearly the Cats can’t beat them. 

2- West Coast was missing quite a few stars and had some more injured against St. Kilda and they still won.  Very Richmond-esque.  The best game of finals, if it happens, will be West Coast against Richmond.

3- The Giants and Demons have got to be the most frustrating teams to watch right now.  You have no idea if they will play well or not each week.  As it is, they may both miss out on finals.

4- The list of teams no longer eligible for finals continues to grow.  Joining North Melbourne, Adelaide, Hawthorn, Sydney, and Fremantle, Essendon, and Gold Coast is Carlton. 

5- Here are you Finals positioning scenarios:  

• Port Adelaide and the Brisbane Lions have clinched the Top Two, which means two home finals.  The only way that the Lions can overtake the Power for the minor premiership (#1 in the regular season) is for them to beat Carlton while the Power lose to Collingwood, which is not out of the realm of possibility.
• Richmond is pretty much locked into the #3 spot as long as it beats the Adelaide Crows.  While the Crows have been on fire lately, this would be a huge upset.  If they lose, they could go all the way down to 5th.
• Geelong could go as high as 3rd if Richmond stumbles and they beat Sydney or as low as 5th if they lose and the Tigers win and the West Coast Eagles beat North Melbourne (highly likely). Beat Sydney and they’re assured of 4th. 
• The West Coast Eagles could go as high as 3rd if Richmond and Geelong lose (not likely) or 4th if only Geelong loses (still not that likely) and they beat the Roos. Should they somehow lose, they are still locked into 5th place.
• Collingwood, with their victory over the Gold Coast Suns, have guaranteed themselves a spot in the Eight. They could stay 6th if they beat Port Adelaide or drop down to 8th if they lose and the Saints and Doggies both win. 

6- And here are your scenarios for just getting IN to finals:

• St. Kilda can guarantee themselves a finals spot with a win against the GWS Giants. It will be #6 if Collingwood loses to Port or #7 if Collingwood wins. If they lose to the Giants, they have a healthy percentage advantage over the competition so they could still remain in the Eight, but they cannot afford to get blown out by GWS.
• The Western Bulldogs can guarantee themselves a finals spot with a win against the Fremantle Dockers, which will not be an easy task. Depending on other results, they could find themselves out of the Eight if they lose.
• The Melbourne Demons must beat the Essendon Bombers and have the Doggies lose to overtake them for a finals spot. They can also get in if they blow out the Bombers and the Saints lose big to the Giants.
• The GWS Giants must beat the St. Kilda Saints by a lot and hope that both the Doggies and Demons lose. 

***

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 18 live broadcast schedule with North American broadcast partner:

Round Eighteen

Thursday, September 17, 2020

2:10 AM – North Melbourne Kangaroos v West Coast Eagles at Metricon Stadium (FS2, TSN1)

Friday, September 18, 2020

2:50 AM – St. Kilda Saints v GWS Giants at The Gabba (FS2, TSN5)

9:10 PM – Essendon Bombers v Melbourne Demons at Metricon Stadium (ESPN2)

Saturday, September 19, 2020

12:10 AM – Adelaide Crows v Richmond Tigers at Adelaide Oval

2:10 AM – Brisbane Lions v Carlton Blues at The Gabba (ESPN3)

8:05 PM – Hawthorn Hawks v Gold Coast Suns at Adelaide Oval

10:35 PM – Sydney Swans v Geelong Cats at Metricon Stadium (FS2)

Sunday, September 20, 2020

1:10 AM – Fremantle Dockers v Western Bulldogs at Cazaly’s Stadium in Cairns (FS1, TSN2)

Monday, September 21, 2020

2:15 AM – Collingwood Magpies v Port Adelaide Power at The Gabba (FS2)

***

See you next time!