2025 AFL Round 22: Sydney v Essendon

This is the match report for the match played on 2 August 2025 between Sydney and Essendon during round 22 of the 2025 AFL season. Sydney hosted Essendon at SCG. Callum Mills captained the hosts. Zach Merrett captained the visitors with Andrew McGrath as vice-captain. The hosts were coached by Dean Cox and the visitors were coached by Brad Scott.

Sydney
Back: L. Melican, D. Rampe, T. McCartin
Half-back: C. Mills (capt.), N. Blakey, S. Wicks
Centre: O. Florent, C. Warner, J. Lloyd
Half-forward: J. Rowbottom, J. Buller, J. Jordon
Forward: J. McInerney, T. Papley, J. Dattoli
Follower: B. Grundy, I. Heeney, E. Gulden
Int.: B. Campbell, H. Cunningham, P. Ladhams, A. Sheldrick
Sub.: C. Cleary

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

Sydney (9.14.68) defeated Essendon (7.12.54).

Goalkickers
Sydney: B. Campbell (2), J. McInerney (2), J. Buller, E. Gulden, I. Heeney, T. Papley, J. Rowbottom
Essendon: L. Blakiston, A. Clarke, M. Guelfi, I. Kako, A. May, A. Perkins, M. Redman

As a result of this match, Sydney remained 10th on the ladder and Essendon remained 15th on the ladder by the end of the day.

Match Details

Season: 2025 AFL Season
Round: Round 22
Teams: Sydney v Essendon
Date: Saturday 2 August 2025
Time: 4:15 PM
Venue: SCG
Attendance: 20,805

Match Results

Outcome: Sydney def. Essendon
Score: 9.14.68 - 7.12.54

Quarter Breakdown

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
Sydney 4 . 3 6 . 9 8 . 12 9 . 14 9 . 14 (68)
Essendon 2 . 4 2 . 6 4 . 10 7 . 12 7 . 12 (54)
Margin SYDN by 11 SYDN by 27 SYDN by 26 SYDN by 14 SYDN by 14
Duration 32:15 29:14 30:09 31:27 2:03:05

Honour Roll

Coaches: Dean Cox (Sydney), Brad Scott (Essendon)
Captains: Callum Mills (Sydney), Zach Merrett (Essendon)
Vice-Captains: unknown (Sydney), Andrew McGrath (Essendon)

Brownlow Votes

Player Team # Votes
Brodie Grundy SYDN 4 3
Errol Gulden SYDN 21 2
Nick Blakey SYDN 22 1

Player Statistics

Sydney

# Player Pos. ToG% GL BH DI KI HB MK HO TA CL CR FF FA RF IF
22 Blakey, Nick CHB 95% 0 1 28 23 5 10 0 3 0 0 0 0 4 8
39 Buller, Jack CHF 81% 1 1 12 5 7 7 0 2 0 3 3 2 0 2
16 Campbell, Braeden INT 82% 2 1 17 9 8 4 0 1 0 2 0 1 0 3
33 Cleary, Caiden SUB↑ 26% 0 0 7 3 4 3 0 2 1 1 0 0 0 1
7 Cunningham, Harry INT 77% 0 0 14 11 3 7 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1
18 Dattoli, Jesse FPR 70% 0 2 13 5 8 5 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 2
13 Florent, Oliver WL 70% 0 0 12 7 5 4 0 4 0 0 0 0 2 2
4 Grundy, Brodie RU 84% 0 1 39 11 28 8 32 1 13 3 3 1 0 2
21 Gulden, Errol RO 86% 1 0 30 17 13 7 0 4 0 4 0 2 5 5
5 Heeney, Isaac RR 85% 1 1 28 19 9 7 0 0 7 2 0 1 0 6
17 Jordon, James HFFR 91% 0 0 12 6 6 3 0 3 2 5 1 3 1 2
19 Ladhams, Peter INT↓ 54% 0 1 6 4 2 2 4 1 1 5 1 3 0 1
44 Lloyd, Jake WR 82% 0 1 17 9 8 7 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 2
30 McCartin, Tom BPR 89% 0 0 11 7 4 6 0 0 0 5 0 4 2 0
27 McInerney, Justin FPL 81% 2 0 27 11 16 8 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 0
43 Melican, Lewis BPL 82% 0 0 10 9 1 5 0 1 0 2 0 1 3 2
14 Mills, Callum (c) HBFL 79% 0 0 23 16 7 7 0 4 0 0 1 0 8 3
11 Papley, Tom FF 83% 1 0 13 7 6 4 0 3 1 3 2 1 0 5
24 Rampe, Dane FB 89% 0 0 25 18 7 12 0 1 0 4 0 2 8 3
8 Rowbottom, James HFFL 79% 1 2 12 8 4 5 0 6 0 1 0 0 0 1
12 Sheldrick, Angus INT 68% 0 0 24 14 10 7 0 0 2 2 0 1 1 4
1 Warner, Chad C 79% 0 0 26 18 8 5 0 2 4 6 2 0 1 5
15 Wicks, Sam HBFR 89% 0 0 9 6 3 3 0 2 0 1 0 0 1 1
Rushed 3
Total (23 players) 9 14 415 243 172 136 36 44 33 53 15 23 38 61

C. Cleary replaced P. Ladhams.

Essendon

# Player Pos. ToG% GL BH DI KI HB MK HO TA CL CR FF FA RF IF
46 Blakiston, Lachlan CHB 90% 1 0 11 5 6 2 7 1 2 4 1 2 4 2
36 Clarke, Angus FPL 88% 1 0 11 6 5 1 0 0 0 2 1 0 3 0
22 Durham, Sam RO 78% 0 1 22 15 7 5 0 1 5 5 1 1 1 7
28 Duursma, Xavier INT 83% 0 0 21 10 11 2 0 4 2 1 2 0 1 2
17 Goldstein, Todd INT 72% 0 0 7 2 5 1 14 0 1 1 1 1 1 0
11 Gresham, Jade HFFR 84% 0 0 20 11 9 2 0 4 7 0 1 0 3 4
35 Guelfi, Matt RU 84% 1 0 3 3 0 0 0 3 1 0 0 0 0 2
8 Hobbs, Ben INT 71% 0 2 10 7 3 2 0 2 1 5 0 3 1 1
10 Kako, Isaac FPR 84% 1 0 7 5 2 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 2
15 Laverde, Jayden FB 100% 0 0 22 9 13 4 0 2 1 1 0 0 5 0
34 Lual, Luamon INT 81% 0 0 10 4 6 3 0 3 2 2 0 1 2 0
26 May, Archie WL 86% 1 0 8 6 2 1 0 0 0 2 3 1 3 1
1 McGrath, Andrew (vc) BPL 87% 0 1 26 13 13 2 0 5 7 1 0 0 5 5
48 McMahon, Liam FF↓ 48% 0 1 4 2 2 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
7 Merrett, Zach (c) C 91% 0 1 19 12 7 2 0 4 3 4 3 0 0 6
42 Nguyen, Jayden BPR 79% 0 0 5 2 3 0 0 3 1 0 1 0 0 0
16 Perkins, Archie HFFL 72% 1 0 10 4 6 1 0 2 0 1 1 1 0 0
25 Prior, Jaxon WR 92% 0 0 19 13 6 4 0 3 0 0 0 0 1 3
27 Redman, Mason HBFL 68% 1 0 20 19 1 4 0 1 0 3 2 2 9 2
21 Roberts, Archie HBFR 91% 0 1 21 12 9 2 0 1 0 2 0 1 8 3
9 Shiel, Dylan RR 64% 0 0 11 7 4 0 0 5 2 3 2 1 2 2
47 Smartt, Oskar SUB↑ 20% 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
20 Wright, Peter CHF 88% 0 1 14 8 6 2 5 3 1 3 4 1 1 2
Rushed 4
Total (23 players) 7 12 302 175 127 42 26 50 37 41 23 15 51 45

O. Smartt replaced L. McMahon.

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

Sydney Coach: Dean Cox
BACK FOLLOWER INTERCHANGE
1 A. McGrath (vc) 15 J. Laverde 42 J. Nguyen 4 B. Grundy 16 B. Campbell
18 J. Dattoli 11 T. Papley 27 J. McInerney 5 I. Heeney 7 H. Cunningham
FORWARD 21 E. Gulden 19 P. Ladhams
HALF-BACK

12 A. Sheldrick
27 M. Redman 46 L. Blakiston 21 A. Roberts

33 C. Cleary
17 J. Jordon 39 J. Buller 8 J. Rowbottom



HALF-FORWARD



CENTRE



26 A. May 7 Z. Merrett (c) 25 J. Prior



44 J. Lloyd 1 C. Warner 13 O. Florent FOLLOWER INTERCHANGE
CENTRE 35 M. Guelfi 28 X. Duursma
HALF-FORWARD 9 D. Shiel 17 T. Goldstein
16 A. Perkins 20 P. Wright 11 J. Gresham 22 S. Durham 8 B. Hobbs
15 S. Wicks 22 N. Blakey 14 C. Mills (c)

34 L. Lual
HALF-BACK

47 O. Smartt
FORWARD



36 A. Clarke 48 L. McMahon 10 I. Kako



30 T. McCartin 24 D. Rampe 43 L. Melican



BACK



Essendon Coach: Brad Scott

Score Timeline

Quarter Team Scoring Event Score Time
Q1 ESSE Andrew McGrath behind 0.0.0 - 0.1.1 01:58
SYDN Errol Gulden goal 1.0.6 - 0.1.1 04:11
SYDN James Rowbottom behind 1.1.7 - 0.1.1 07:44
ESSE Rushed behind 1.1.7 - 0.2.2 08:23
ESSE Archie Perkins goal 1.1.7 - 1.2.8 09:48
ESSE Liam McMahon behind 1.1.7 - 1.3.9 15:00
SYDN Jesse Dattoli behind 1.2.8 - 1.3.9 16:24
ESSE Matt Guelfi goal 1.2.8 - 2.3.15 18:50
SYDN Braeden Campbell goal 2.2.14 - 2.3.15 20:49
SYDN James Rowbottom behind 2.3.15 - 2.3.15 22:51
SYDN Justin McInerney goal 3.3.21 - 2.3.15 24:39
ESSE Rushed behind 3.3.21 - 2.4.16 26:20
SYDN James Rowbottom goal 4.3.27 - 2.4.16 29:26
Q2 SYDN Braeden Campbell behind 4.4.28 - 2.4.16 01:45
ESSE Archie Roberts behind 4.4.28 - 2.5.17 03:02
SYDN Jake Lloyd behind 4.5.29 - 2.5.17 06:03
SYDN Brodie Grundy behind 4.6.30 - 2.5.17 07:44
ESSE Sam Durham behind 4.6.30 - 2.6.18 11:03
SYDN Nick Blakey behind 4.7.31 - 2.6.18 17:42
SYDN Peter Ladhams behind 4.8.32 - 2.6.18 19:17
SYDN Jack Buller goal 5.8.38 - 2.6.18 20:18
SYDN Jesse Dattoli behind 5.9.39 - 2.6.18 22:06
SYDN Tom Papley goal 6.9.45 - 2.6.18 27:31
Q3 ESSE Ben Hobbs behind 6.9.45 - 2.7.19 00:30
ESSE Angus Clarke goal 6.9.45 - 3.7.25 01:31
SYDN Isaac Heeney goal 7.9.51 - 3.7.25 04:27
ESSE Rushed behind 7.9.51 - 3.8.26 06:48
ESSE Archie May goal 7.9.51 - 4.8.32 08:44
ESSE Ben Hobbs behind 7.9.51 - 4.9.33 10:55
SYDN Rushed behind 7.10.52 - 4.9.33 16:30
SYDN Justin McInerney goal 8.10.58 - 4.9.33 19:15
ESSE Rushed behind 8.10.58 - 4.10.34 21:28
SYDN Jack Buller behind 8.11.59 - 4.10.34 25:52
SYDN Isaac Heeney behind 8.12.60 - 4.10.34 27:24
Q4 SYDN Rushed behind 8.13.61 - 4.10.34 01:00
SYDN Braeden Campbell goal 9.13.67 - 4.10.34 02:45
ESSE Mason Redman goal 9.13.67 - 5.10.40 04:56
ESSE Isaac Kako goal 9.13.67 - 6.10.46 11:41
ESSE Peter Wright behind 9.13.67 - 6.11.47 13:29
ESSE Lachlan Blakiston goal 9.13.67 - 7.11.53 14:29
ESSE Zach Merrett behind 9.13.67 - 7.12.54 17:50
SYDN Rushed behind 9.14.68 - 7.12.54 28:03