2025 AFL Round 21: Essendon v Western Bulldogs

This is the match report for the match played on 25 July 2025 between Essendon and Western Bulldogs during round 21 of the 2025 AFL season. Essendon hosted Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium. Zach Merrett captained the hosts with Andrew McGrath as vice-captain. Marcus Bontempelli captained the visitors with Tom Liberatore as vice-captain. The hosts were coached by Brad Scott and the visitors were coached by Luke Beveridge.

Essendon
Back: A. McGrath (vice-capt.), J. Laverde, A. Roberts
Half-back: M. Redman, J. Ridley, A. Clarke
Centre: S. El-Hawli, Z. Merrett (capt.), L. Lual
Half-forward: L. Blakiston, P. Wright, J. Prior
Forward: N. Caddy, L. McMahon, I. Kako
Follower: T. Goldstein, M. Guelfi, S. Durham
Int.: J. Gresham, Z. Johnson, A. Perkins, D. Shiel
Sub.: O. Smartt

Western Bulldogs
Back: J. Johannisen, J. Busslinger, J. O'Donnell
Half-back: L. Cleary, R. Lobb, B. Dale
Centre: B. Williams, E. Richards, J. Freijah
Half-forward: C. Poulter, A. Naughton, M. Kennedy
Forward: O. Baker, S. Darcy, R. West
Follower: T. English, M. Bontempelli (capt.), T. Liberatore (vice-capt.)
Int.: L. Bramble, R. Garcia, L. McNeil, R. Sanders
Sub.: L. Vandermeer

Essendon (7.8.50) were defeated by Western Bulldogs (22.11.143).

Goalkickers
Essendon: L. McMahon (2), P. Wright (2), N. Caddy, I. Kako, A. Perkins
Western Bulldogs: A. Naughton (7), S. Darcy (6), R. West (3), M. Bontempelli (2), E. Richards (2), C. Poulter, R. Sanders

As a result of this match, Essendon remained 14th on the ladder and Western Bulldogs were then 8th on the ladder (up from 9th) by the end of the day.

Match Details

Season: 2025 AFL Season
Round: Round 21
Teams: Essendon v Western Bulldogs
Date: Friday 25 July 2025
Time: 7:20 PM
Venue: Marvel Stadium
Attendance: 29,367

Match Results

Outcome: Essendon def. by Western Bulldogs
Score: 7.8.50 - 22.11.143

Quarter Breakdown

	Q1			Q2			Q3			Q4			Final
Essendon	2	.	2	2	.	5	4	.	6	7	.	8	7	.	8	(50)
Western Bulldogs	6	.	5	10	.	5	17	.	7	22	.	11	22	.	11	(143)
Margin	WBUL by 27			WBUL by 48			WBUL by 79			WBUL by 93			WBUL by 93
Duration	30:06			28:44			33:38			32:19			2:04:47

Honour Roll

Coaches: Brad Scott (Essendon), Luke Beveridge (Western Bulldogs)
Captains: Zach Merrett (Essendon), Marcus Bontempelli (Western Bulldogs)
Vice-Captains: Andrew McGrath (Essendon), Tom Liberatore (Western Bulldogs)

Brownlow Votes

Player	Team	#	Votes
Aaron Naughton	WBUL	33	3
Marcus Bontempelli	WBUL	4	2
Sam Darcy	WBUL	10	1

Player Statistics

Essendon

#	Player	Pos.	ToG%	GL	BH	DI	KI	HB	MK	HO	TA	CL	CR	FF	FA	RF	IF
46	Blakiston, Lachlan	HFFL	91%	0	0	10	3	7	2	0	1	0	3	0	3	0	0
30	Caddy, Nate	FPL	76%	1	1	12	9	3	4	1	0	0	2	1	0	0	1
36	Clarke, Angus	HBFR	87%	0	1	9	7	2	2	0	3	0	2	1	1	0	2
22	Durham, Sam	RO	79%	0	1	27	13	14	4	0	1	9	5	3	1	2	4
41	El-Hawli, Saad	WL	84%	0	0	13	7	6	4	0	4	0	3	1	1	2	3
17	Goldstein, Todd	RU	81%	0	0	8	1	7	1	28	1	2	7	1	4	0	1
11	Gresham, Jade	INT	83%	0	0	12	4	8	2	0	3	3	2	0	1	0	2
35	Guelfi, Matt	RR	77%	0	0	11	6	5	2	0	3	0	4	0	1	1	3
40	Johnson, Zak	INT	74%	0	0	9	5	4	3	0	1	0	1	1	0	3	0
10	Kako, Isaac	FPR	89%	1	0	7	4	3	1	0	5	2	1	0	0	0	1
15	Laverde, Jayden	FB	91%	0	0	16	10	6	6	0	3	0	4	2	2	5	3
34	Lual, Luamon	WR	80%	0	0	11	4	7	1	0	2	0	2	1	0	2	2
1	McGrath, Andrew (vc)	BPL	70%	0	0	22	6	16	1	0	4	3	3	1	0	0	3
48	McMahon, Liam	FF	83%	2	0	8	7	1	4	0	0	0	6	2	0	0	3
7	Merrett, Zach (c)	C	87%	0	0	30	14	16	4	0	7	2	5	1	0	2	7
16	Perkins, Archie	INT	79%	1	0	8	5	3	3	0	3	0	2	1	1	0	1
25	Prior, Jaxon	HFFR	91%	0	0	17	8	9	4	0	1	0	3	0	1	2	0
27	Redman, Mason	HBFL	88%	0	0	23	19	4	6	0	3	0	3	0	1	6	4
14	Ridley, Jordan	CHB↓	26%	0	0	9	6	3	4	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0
21	Roberts, Archie	BPR	88%	0	0	26	12	14	2	0	3	1	3	1	0	5	1
9	Shiel, Dylan	INT	63%	0	0	29	9	20	5	0	4	8	1	0	0	1	4
47	Smartt, Oskar	SUB↑	46%	0	2	6	3	3	2	0	1	1	2	1	0	0	0
20	Wright, Peter	CHF	84%	2	1	13	5	8	4	11	2	3	2	2	0	0	1
Rushed					2
Total (23 players)				7	8	336	167	169	71	40	55	34	67	20	18	31	46

O. Smartt replaced J. Ridley.

Western Bulldogs

#	Player	Pos.	ToG%	GL	BH	DI	KI	HB	MK	HO	TA	CL	CR	FF	FA	RF	IF
13	Baker, Oskar	FPL	78%	0	0	13	8	5	4	0	1	4	0	0	0	3	4
4	Bontempelli, Marcus (c)	RR	84%	2	2	35	20	15	10	0	3	7	1	0	0	1	5
29	Bramble, Lachie	INT	87%	0	0	23	15	8	8	0	1	0	0	1	0	4	2
5	Busslinger, Jedd	FB	87%	0	0	15	12	3	9	0	0	0	3	0	2	3	0
36	Cleary, Luke	HBFL	85%	0	0	17	6	11	6	0	4	1	2	0	1	4	0
31	Dale, Bailey	HBFR	80%	0	1	20	16	4	3	0	2	2	3	1	2	4	2
10	Darcy, Sam	FF	91%	6	2	16	12	4	8	0	2	0	1	3	0	0	0
44	English, Tim	RU	87%	0	0	22	11	11	6	26	2	6	8	3	3	0	3
27	Freijah, Joel	WR	87%	0	0	15	7	8	5	0	1	0	4	0	3	0	3
38	Garcia, Riley	INT	72%	0	0	19	9	10	4	0	4	6	4	0	1	0	5
39	Johannisen, Jason	BPL	83%	0	0	24	19	5	7	0	3	1	1	0	0	5	2
8	Kennedy, Matthew	HFFR	81%	0	0	23	11	12	4	0	9	3	6	2	2	2	5
21	Liberatore, Tom (vc)	RO↓	52%	0	0	22	12	10	7	0	0	1	1	1	0	1	2
7	Lobb, Rory	CHB	86%	0	0	11	7	4	4	3	2	0	2	0	1	2	1
30	McNeil, Lachlan	INT	74%	0	0	7	2	5	2	0	6	0	0	0	0	1	0
33	Naughton, Aaron	CHF	85%	7	1	15	11	4	6	0	1	0	1	5	0	0	2
18	O'Donnell, James	BPR	92%	0	0	11	9	2	4	0	2	0	1	0	0	4	1
25	Poulter, Caleb	HFFL	75%	1	0	11	10	1	7	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	5
20	Richards, Ed	C	79%	2	0	24	18	6	4	0	2	4	2	0	0	3	8
9	Sanders, Ryley	INT	72%	1	0	17	6	11	4	0	4	0	3	0	2	0	0
23	Vandermeer, Laitham	SUB↑	23%	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
14	West, Rhylee	FPR	79%	3	3	16	11	5	8	0	4	0	7	1	2	0	1
34	Williams, Bailey	WL	79%	0	0	26	14	12	6	0	3	4	4	1	1	2	5
Rushed					2
Total (23 players)				22	11	402	246	156	126	29	58	39	55	18	20	39	56

L. Vandermeer replaced T. Liberatore.

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

Essendon							Coach: Brad Scott
BACK							FOLLOWER		INTERCHANGE
	39	J. Johannisen	5	J. Busslinger	18	J. O'Donnell	17	T. Goldstein	11	J. Gresham
	10	I. Kako	48	L. McMahon	30	N. Caddy	35	M. Guelfi	40	Z. Johnson
FORWARD							22	S. Durham	16	A. Perkins
HALF-BACK									9	D. Shiel
	36	L. Cleary	7	R. Lobb	31	B. Dale			47	O. Smartt
	25	J. Prior	20	P. Wright	46	L. Blakiston
HALF-FORWARD
CENTRE
	34	B. Williams	20	E. Richards	27	J. Freijah
	34	L. Lual	7	Z. Merrett (c)	41	S. El-Hawli	FOLLOWER		INTERCHANGE
CENTRE							44	T. English	29	L. Bramble
HALF-FORWARD							4	M. Bontempelli (c)	38	R. Garcia
	25	C. Poulter	33	A. Naughton	8	M. Kennedy	21	T. Liberatore (vc)	30	L. McNeil
	36	A. Clarke	14	J. Ridley	27	M. Redman			9	R. Sanders
HALF-BACK									23	L. Vandermeer
FORWARD
	13	O. Baker	10	S. Darcy	14	R. West
	21	A. Roberts	15	J. Laverde	1	A. McGrath (vc)
BACK
Western Bulldogs							Coach: Luke Beveridge

Score Timeline

Quarter	Team	Scoring Event	Score			Time
Q1	WBUL	Aaron Naughton goal	0.0.0	-	1.0.6	00:45
	WBUL	Aaron Naughton goal	0.0.0	-	2.0.12	03:07
	WBUL	Marcus Bontempelli behind	0.0.0	-	2.1.13	05:11
	WBUL	Rushed behind	0.0.0	-	2.2.14	09:14
	ESSE	Angus Clarke behind	0.1.1	-	2.2.14	09:49
	WBUL	Sam Darcy goal	0.1.1	-	3.2.20	10:45
	WBUL	Marcus Bontempelli goal	0.1.1	-	4.2.26	13:14
	WBUL	Ed Richards goal	0.1.1	-	5.2.32	14:29
	WBUL	Rushed behind	0.1.1	-	5.3.33	16:25
	WBUL	Aaron Naughton behind	0.1.1	-	5.4.34	17:28
	ESSE	Liam McMahon goal	1.1.7	-	5.4.34	20:40
	WBUL	Sam Darcy goal	1.1.7	-	6.4.40	23:08
	ESSE	Peter Wright behind	1.2.8	-	6.4.40	25:32
	WBUL	Rhylee West behind	1.2.8	-	6.5.41	26:12
	ESSE	Liam McMahon goal	2.2.14	-	6.5.41	30:02
Q2	WBUL	Sam Darcy goal	2.2.14	-	7.5.47	01:53
	ESSE	Rushed behind	2.3.15	-	7.5.47	04:14
	WBUL	Ryley Sanders goal	2.3.15	-	8.5.53	11:45
	ESSE	Nate Caddy behind	2.4.16	-	8.5.53	15:42
	WBUL	Aaron Naughton goal	2.4.16	-	9.5.59	22:51
	WBUL	Sam Darcy goal	2.4.16	-	10.5.65	24:29
	ESSE	Oskar Smartt behind	2.5.17	-	10.5.65	26:16
Q3	WBUL	Aaron Naughton goal	2.5.17	-	11.5.71	02:40
	WBUL	Rhylee West goal	2.5.17	-	12.5.77	05:22
	ESSE	Isaac Kako goal	3.5.23	-	12.5.77	06:35
	WBUL	Sam Darcy behind	3.5.23	-	12.6.78	10:04
	WBUL	Rhylee West goal	3.5.23	-	13.6.84	14:19
	ESSE	Rushed behind	3.6.24	-	13.6.84	16:16
	WBUL	Sam Darcy behind	3.6.24	-	13.7.85	18:02
	WBUL	Aaron Naughton goal	3.6.24	-	14.7.91	19:39
	ESSE	Nate Caddy goal	4.6.30	-	14.7.91	22:22
	WBUL	Sam Darcy goal	4.6.30	-	15.7.97	26:33
	WBUL	Caleb Poulter goal	4.6.30	-	16.7.103	28:55
	WBUL	Aaron Naughton goal	4.6.30	-	17.7.109	31:06
Q4	WBUL	Marcus Bontempelli goal	4.6.30	-	18.7.115	02:56
	ESSE	Peter Wright goal	5.6.36	-	18.7.115	04:42
	ESSE	Oskar Smartt behind	5.7.37	-	18.7.115	07:04
	ESSE	Peter Wright goal	6.7.43	-	18.7.115	08:31
	WBUL	Rhylee West behind	6.7.43	-	18.8.116	10:14
	WBUL	Aaron Naughton goal	6.7.43	-	19.8.122	12:35
	ESSE	Sam Durham behind	6.8.44	-	19.8.122	16:13
	WBUL	Rhylee West behind	6.8.44	-	19.9.123	19:02
	WBUL	Bailey Dale behind	6.8.44	-	19.10.124	19:48
	WBUL	Sam Darcy goal	6.8.44	-	20.10.130	22:02
	ESSE	Archie Perkins goal	7.8.50	-	20.10.130	26:36
	WBUL	Ed Richards goal	7.8.50	-	21.10.136	27:45
	WBUL	Rhylee West goal	7.8.50	-	22.10.142	29:39
	WBUL	Marcus Bontempelli behind	7.8.50	-	22.11.143	32:16

Links

AFL (2025)

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