This week,

The AFLW has pride!

Welcome to Balls of Steel’s AFL Beat!

We are starting to see which teams are good and which ones aren’t. Sharp-eyed readers will note that we got some different games from what was on the revised schedule. As you remember, the Giants and Crows had to fly out of Western Australia quickly to avoid a lockdown last week. The lockdown forced a change of schedule with four matches being changed from what I put in the AFL Beat last week.

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

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Week 2 Recaps

Western Bulldogs 42 – Carlton Blues 36

This was the tightest and the best game of the competition not only this Round, but the entire season. The loss hurts the Blues big time, though. Here are the highlights:

Collingwood Magpies 45 – 16 Geelong Cats

The Cats try hard. They really do. However, this Mexican footy phrase really applies to them: No tienen gol. Here are the highlights:

Melbourne Demons 44 – 16 Richmond Tigers

This was almost a carbon copy of the Pies-Cats game. The felines tried very hard, but could not overcome their more-talented rivals. Here are the highlights:

North Melbourne Kangaroos 36 – 10 St. Kilda Saints

The Saints played great defense and were able to hold the premiership favourites to 36, which was good. Their offense, however was non-existent and they could only score 10, which was bad. Here are the highlights:

Brisbane Lions 65 – 2 Gold Coast Suns

Yes, you read that right. This was a record-breaking beatdown. The Suns have now the lowest-ever score in an AFLW game. Here are the “highlights”:

GWS Giants 15 – 62 Adelaide Crows

The Giants were no match for the Crows, who are now back to their championship form. Here are the highlights:

Fremantle Dockers 23 – 14 West Coast Eagles

The teams were playing in a driving rainstorm. I love these games because the funnest games from my youth were in the rain. Here are the highlights:

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Ladder

Here is how the teams stand after Round 2:

P	TEAM	W	L	T	PTS	%
1	Brisbane Lions	2	0	0	8	757.1
2	North Melbourne Kangaroos	2	0	0	8	563.2
3	Adelaide Crows	2	0	0	8	357.6
4	Melbourne Demons	2	0	0	8	196.1
5	Fremantle Dockers	2	0	0	8	192.9
6	Collingwood Magpies	2	0	0	8	181.4
7	Western Bulldogs	1	1	0	4	96.6
8	St. Kilda Saints	1	1	0	4	78.2
9	Carlton Blues	0	2	0	0	84.0
10	West Coast Eagles	0	2	0	0	40.5
11	GWS Giants	0	2	0	0	35.8
12	Richmond Tigers	0	2	0	0	32.9
13	Gold Coast Suns	0	2	0	0	30.6
14	Geelong Cats	0	2	0	0	21.6

And now, the glorious return of the Balls GraphTM:

[gview file=”https://www.doorfliesopen.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/AFLW-Ladder-2021R2.pdf”]

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Footy Tipping Contest

Here is how we stack up after Round 2:

P	TIPPER	Round Tips	Round Margin	Total Tips	Total Margin
1	SonOfSpam	6	16	12	37
2	BC Dick	5	14	10	14
3	Litre_cola	5	6	9	20
4	BALLS	5	11	9	25
5	Game Time Decision	4	14	9	50
6	BFC	3	20	7	26
7		3	17	6	23

Congratulations to SonOfSpam for getting top score AGAIN this week! He is on fire with the tipping as he is also on top of the English Footy Tipping League and just won the Pigskin Playoff Pickem! BC Dick is also doing well and then there is a three-way tie for the middle of the table.

We welcome BFC to the party and he has already climbed out of the bottom position. There is still time to join this year’s competition! Please follow the link below to join in the fun:

https://mobile.footytips.com.au/competitions/?competitionId=454009&ff=ladders

I remind you, as always,

DON’T FORGET TO PUT THE FOOTY TIPS IN!

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Balls’ Sechs

• I think Brisbane, North Melbourne, and Adelaide are the class of the league right now. The matches between those teams will be spectacular Finals previews.
• The next three spots in The Six will be fought for by the Demons, Pies, Dockers, Bulldogs, Saints, and Blues. Six teams fighting for three spots will make for very compelling and competitive games.
• And then we have the rest. They all are trying really hard but are having trouble putting everything together in a winning performance. The games between those teams will be really tough to predict.
• The games that were allowed to have fans in attendance this week sold out. This is a very good sign for the growth and stability of the league.
• Some teams wore Pride guernseys will other simply wore their normal guernseys with rainbow socks. Either way, it was nice to see the league supporting inclusion in a formalized way.
• We had a change in schedule but, like in the AFL season, the teams adjusted well. It will be a challenging season, just like the men’s was, but the AFL has done this before and the AFLW is doing a great job adjusting on the fly.

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Round Three Schedule

The Round 2 schedule was altered because of the lockdown in Western Australia and that has also affected the Round 3 schedule. It has changed from what was on the original schedule. As of now, the schedule stands as written below.

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

Friday, February 12, 2021

12:10 AM – Geelong Cats v Western Bulldogs at GMHBA Stadium

8:10 PM – GWS Giants v Gold Coast Suns at Blacktown International Sports Park

10:10 PM – St. Kilda Saints v Carlton Blues at RSEA Park

Saturday, February 13, 2021

12:10 AM – Melbourne Demons v North Melbourne Kangaroos at Casey Fields

6:10 PM – Adelaide Crows v Fremantle Dockers at Norwood Oval

8:10 PM – Brisbane Lions v Collingwood Magpies at Hickey Park

10:10 PM – Richmond Tigers v West Coast Eagles at Swinburne Centre

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