2025 AFL Round 6: Melbourne v Essendon

This is the match report for the match played on 12 April 2025 between Melbourne and Essendon during round 6 of the 2025 AFL season. Melbourne hosted Essendon at Adelaide Oval. Max Gawn captained the hosts with Jack Viney as vice-captain. Zach Merrett captained the visitors with Andrew McGrath as vice-captain. The hosts were coached by Simon Goodwin and the visitors were coached by Brad Scott.

Melbourne
Back: J. Bowey, S. May, H. Petty
Half-back: T. Sparrow, T. McDonald, C. Salem
Centre: K. Chandler, J. Viney (vice-capt.), E. Langdon
Half-forward: X. Lindsay, C. Oliver, K. Pickett
Forward: J. Melksham, J. van Rooyen, C. Spargo
Follower: M. Gawn (capt.), C. Petracca, H. Langford
Int.: B. Fritsch, J. Henderson, T. Rivers, C. Windsor
Sub.: H. Sharp

Essendon
Back: A. McGrath (vice-capt.), B. McKay, J. Ridley
Half-back: M. Redman, Z. Reid, J. Prior
Centre: W. Setterfield, A. Roberts, D. Shiel
Half-forward: J. Gresham, N. Caddy, N. Martin
Forward: H. Jones, S. Draper, I. Kako
Follower: N. Bryan, Z. Merrett (capt.), S. Durham
Int.: X. Duursma, B. Hobbs, J. Menzie, A. Perkins
Sub.: S. El-Hawli

Melbourne (8.9.57) were defeated by Essendon (15.6.96).

Goalkickers
Melbourne: B. Fritsch (2), K. Pickett (2), E. Langdon, H. Petty, H. Sharp, T. Sparrow
Essendon: J. Menzie (4), N. Caddy (2), B. Hobbs (2), X. Duursma, J. Gresham, H. Jones, N. Martin, A. Perkins, M. Redman, D. Shiel

As a result of this match, Melbourne remained 17th on the ladder and Essendon were then 12th on the ladder (up from 14th) by the end of the day.

Match Details

Season: 2025 AFL Season
Round: Round 6
Teams: Melbourne v Essendon
Date: Saturday 12 April 2025
Time: 7:05 PM
Venue: Adelaide Oval
Attendance: 45,039

Match Results

Outcome: Melbourne def. by Essendon
Score: 8.9.57 - 15.6.96

Quarter Breakdown

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
Melbourne 1 . 4 2 . 5 7 . 7 8 . 9 8 . 9 (57)
Essendon 3 . 4 7 . 4 10 . 5 15 . 6 15 . 6 (96)
Margin ESSE by 12 ESSE by 29 ESSE by 16 ESSE by 39 ESSE by 39
Duration 30:02 33:14 35:10 32:24 2:10:50

Honour Roll

Coaches: Simon Goodwin (Melbourne), Brad Scott (Essendon)
Captains: Max Gawn (Melbourne), Zach Merrett (Essendon)
Vice-Captains: Jack Viney (Melbourne), Andrew McGrath (Essendon)

Brownlow Votes

Player Team # Votes
Zach Merrett ESSE 7 3
Mason Redman ESSE 27 2
Kysaiah Pickett MELB 36 1

Player Statistics

Melbourne

# Player Pos. ToG% GL BH DI KI HB MK HO TA CL CR FF FA RF IF
17 Bowey, Jake BPL 83% 0 0 23 18 5 6 0 2 4 3 0 0 2 3
37 Chandler, Kade WL 93% 0 0 11 7 4 3 0 6 0 0 1 0 1 3
31 Fritsch, Bayley INT 84% 2 0 10 6 4 4 0 5 0 1 2 0 0 2
11 Gawn, Max (c) RU 82% 0 0 22 7 15 4 49 2 8 3 1 1 1 3
43 Henderson, Jack INT↓ 46% 0 0 4 1 3 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0
15 Langdon, Ed WR 100% 1 0 25 19 6 12 0 1 3 1 1 1 5 6
19 Langford, Harvey RO 73% 0 0 23 11 12 5 0 1 3 5 1 0 1 2
20 Lindsay, Xavier HFFL 64% 0 1 14 8 6 5 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 1
1 May, Steven FB 92% 0 0 12 9 3 3 0 1 0 2 1 0 3 1
25 McDonald, Tom CHB 100% 0 0 15 8 7 4 0 2 1 2 1 1 1 1
18 Melksham, Jake FPL 76% 0 0 7 5 2 3 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 3
13 Oliver, Clayton CHF 81% 0 1 24 6 18 2 0 9 6 5 1 0 1 2
5 Petracca, Christian RR 86% 0 2 27 13 14 6 0 5 4 5 0 1 0 9
35 Petty, Harry BPR 88% 1 0 10 5 5 5 0 0 0 2 1 1 1 0
36 Pickett, Kysaiah HFFR 87% 2 0 23 18 5 6 0 1 4 4 1 0 0 5
24 Rivers, Trent INT 76% 0 1 22 15 7 3 0 3 4 1 0 0 2 4
3 Salem, Christian HBFR 88% 0 0 21 15 6 10 0 2 1 2 0 2 5 2
30 Sharp, Harry SUB↑ 35% 1 0 3 2 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
9 Spargo, Charlie FPR 73% 0 0 12 6 6 2 0 1 0 3 2 1 0 3
32 Sparrow, Tom HBFL 63% 1 0 5 3 2 3 0 2 0 1 0 1 0 0
2 van Rooyen, Jacob FF 75% 0 0 7 2 5 1 9 2 3 1 1 1 0 0
7 Viney, Jack (vc) C 75% 0 1 21 11 10 2 0 5 2 4 2 1 1 0
6 Windsor, Caleb INT 80% 0 1 13 6 7 5 0 2 1 3 0 1 3 1
Rushed 2
Total (23 players) 8 9 354 201 153 97 58 54 45 50 17 13 28 51

H. Sharp replaced J. Henderson.

Essendon

# Player Pos. ToG% GL BH DI KI HB MK HO TA CL CR FF FA RF IF
24 Bryan, Nick RU↓ 9% 0 0 3 2 1 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
30 Caddy, Nate CHF 78% 2 0 7 5 2 4 1 1 0 2 1 1 0 0
2 Draper, Sam FF 87% 0 0 22 12 10 5 26 2 5 4 2 2 3 3
22 Durham, Sam RO 84% 0 0 28 14 14 6 0 3 5 2 2 1 1 8
28 Duursma, Xavier INT 83% 1 0 17 8 9 3 0 1 4 3 0 1 3 2
41 El-Hawli, Saad SUB↑ 62% 0 0 18 8 10 5 0 4 2 3 1 1 0 3
11 Gresham, Jade HFFL 81% 1 0 18 6 12 5 0 3 3 1 0 0 0 3
8 Hobbs, Ben INT 63% 2 1 20 10 10 3 0 4 5 4 0 0 2 0
23 Jones, Harry FPL 89% 1 1 7 4 3 2 4 3 0 4 0 2 0 1
10 Kako, Isaac FPR 86% 0 0 9 5 4 4 0 3 1 1 0 0 0 3
37 Martin, Nic HFFR 95% 1 0 28 18 10 11 0 2 1 4 0 0 2 1
1 McGrath, Andrew (vc) BPL 82% 0 0 26 13 13 3 0 3 1 7 1 2 4 0
32 McKay, Ben FB 98% 0 0 16 8 8 4 0 1 0 4 2 3 0 0
29 Menzie, Jye INT 66% 4 0 15 13 2 8 0 1 0 3 1 0 0 2
7 Merrett, Zach (c) RR 85% 0 1 37 15 22 8 0 5 2 5 0 0 0 5
16 Perkins, Archie INT 75% 1 0 17 10 7 4 0 0 1 4 2 1 0 3
25 Prior, Jaxon HBFR 77% 0 0 12 8 4 4 0 1 0 3 0 1 6 0
27 Redman, Mason HBFL 87% 1 0 22 14 8 4 0 1 0 0 1 0 4 1
31 Reid, Zach CHB 96% 0 0 21 14 7 10 0 1 1 0 0 0 5 0
14 Ridley, Jordan BPR 86% 0 0 26 17 9 9 0 1 0 0 0 0 3 1
21 Roberts, Archie C 84% 0 0 28 15 13 8 0 6 1 3 0 2 4 3
12 Setterfield, Will WL 78% 0 0 21 13 8 3 0 10 2 1 0 0 2 2
9 Shiel, Dylan WR 69% 1 0 30 12 18 3 0 1 7 6 0 0 2 2
Rushed 3
Total (23 players) 15 6 448 244 204 116 34 57 41 64 13 17 41 43

S. El-Hawli replaced N. Bryan.

Legend

ToG%: Time-on-Ground Percentage, GL: Goals, BH: Behinds, DI: Disposals, KI: Kicks, HB: Handballs, MK: Marks, HO: Hitouts, TA: Tackles, CL: Clearances, CR: Clangers, FF: Free Kicks For, FA: Free Kicks Against, RF: Rebounds Inside 50, IF: Inside 50s

Player Line-Up

Melbourne Coach: Simon Goodwin
BACK FOLLOWER INTERCHANGE
1 A. McGrath (vc) 32 B. McKay 14 J. Ridley 11 M. Gawn (c) 31 B. Fritsch
9 C. Spargo 2 J. van Rooyen 18 J. Melksham 5 C. Petracca 43 J. Henderson
FORWARD 19 H. Langford 24 T. Rivers
HALF-BACK

6 C. Windsor
27 M. Redman 31 Z. Reid 25 J. Prior

30 H. Sharp
36 K. Pickett 13 C. Oliver 20 X. Lindsay



HALF-FORWARD



CENTRE



12 W. Setterfield 21 A. Roberts 9 D. Shiel



15 E. Langdon 7 J. Viney (vc) 37 K. Chandler FOLLOWER INTERCHANGE
CENTRE 24 N. Bryan 28 X. Duursma
HALF-FORWARD 7 Z. Merrett (c) 8 B. Hobbs
11 J. Gresham 30 N. Caddy 37 N. Martin 22 S. Durham 29 J. Menzie
3 C. Salem 25 T. McDonald 32 T. Sparrow

16 A. Perkins
HALF-BACK

41 S. El-Hawli
FORWARD



23 H. Jones 2 S. Draper 10 I. Kako



35 H. Petty 1 S. May 17 J. Bowey



BACK



Essendon Coach: Brad Scott

Score Timeline

Quarter Team Scoring Event Score Time
Q1 ESSE Harry Jones behind 0.0.0 - 0.1.1 03:29
MELB Rushed behind 0.1.1 - 0.1.1 03:57
ESSE Harry Jones goal 0.1.1 - 1.1.7 06:27
ESSE Jye Menzie goal 0.1.1 - 2.1.13 08:58
MELB Kysaiah Pickett goal 1.1.7 - 2.1.13 11:02
ESSE Ben Hobbs behind 1.1.7 - 2.2.14 13:07
ESSE Rushed behind 1.1.7 - 2.3.15 15:10
ESSE Ben Hobbs goal 1.1.7 - 3.3.21 16:54
ESSE Rushed behind 1.1.7 - 3.4.22 18:27
MELB Rushed behind 1.2.8 - 3.4.22 24:13
MELB Jack Viney behind 1.3.9 - 3.4.22 25:50
MELB Xavier Lindsay behind 1.4.10 - 3.4.22 27:43
Q2 MELB Ed Langdon goal 2.4.16 - 3.4.22 03:31
ESSE Jye Menzie goal 2.4.16 - 4.4.28 08:18
ESSE Nate Caddy goal 2.4.16 - 5.4.34 11:19
ESSE Dylan Shiel goal 2.4.16 - 6.4.40 20:47
ESSE Jye Menzie goal 2.4.16 - 7.4.46 23:37
MELB Caleb Windsor behind 2.5.17 - 7.4.46 29:23
Q3 ESSE Archie Perkins goal 2.5.17 - 8.4.52 01:18
MELB Christian Petracca behind 2.6.18 - 8.4.52 03:50
ESSE Zach Merrett behind 2.6.18 - 8.5.53 05:51
MELB Harry Petty goal 3.6.24 - 8.5.53 07:54
MELB Bayley Fritsch goal 4.6.30 - 8.5.53 11:58
MELB Bayley Fritsch goal 5.6.36 - 8.5.53 17:34
MELB Kysaiah Pickett goal 6.6.42 - 8.5.53 22:15
MELB Clayton Oliver behind 6.7.43 - 8.5.53 23:23
ESSE Xavier Duursma goal 6.7.43 - 9.5.59 25:48
MELB Harry Sharp goal 7.7.49 - 9.5.59 29:19
ESSE Nic Martin goal 7.7.49 - 10.5.65 31:13
Q4 MELB Trent Rivers behind 7.8.50 - 10.5.65 01:32
ESSE Jade Gresham goal 7.8.50 - 11.5.71 04:08
MELB Christian Petracca behind 7.9.51 - 11.5.71 06:22
ESSE Ben Hobbs goal 7.9.51 - 12.5.77 14:34
MELB Tom Sparrow goal 8.9.57 - 12.5.77 17:30
ESSE Rushed behind 8.9.57 - 12.6.78 20:34
ESSE Nate Caddy goal 8.9.57 - 13.6.84 22:02
ESSE Mason Redman goal 8.9.57 - 14.6.90 31:06
ESSE Jye Menzie goal 8.9.57 - 15.6.96 32:19