2025 AFL Season Round 23: Geelong v Essendon

This is the match report for the match played on 8 August 2025 between Geelong and Essendon during round twenty-three of the 2025 season of the Australian Football League. Geelong hosted Essendon at GMHBA Stadium. Zach Merrett captained the visitors with Andrew McGrath as vice-captain. The hosts were coached by Chris Scott and the visitors were coached by Brad Scott.

Geelong (15.19.109) defeated Essendon (10.5.65).

Match Details

Season: 2025 AFL Season
Round: Round 23
Teams: Geelong v Essendon
Date: Friday 8 August 2025
Time: 7:40 PM
Venue: GMHBA Stadium
Attendance: 30,289

Match Results

Outcome: Geelong def. Essendon
Score: 15.19.109 - 10.5.65

Quarter Breakdown

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
Geelong 4 . 5 7 . 10 11 . 13 15 . 19 15 . 19 (109)
Essendon 1 . 2 2 . 3 7 . 5 10 . 5 10 . 5 (65)
Margin GEEL by 21 GEEL by 37 GEEL by 32 GEEL by 44 GEEL by 44
Duration 29:38 28:10 33:19 34:06 2:05:13

Score Worm

This chart is oriented such that the margin is positive when the hosts (Geelong) are in the lead and is negative when the visitors (Essendon) are in the lead.

Honour Roll

Geelong

Captain: unknown
Coach: Chris Scott

Essendon

Captain: Zach Merrett
Vice-Captain: Andrew McGrath
Coach: Brad Scott

Brownlow Votes

Player Team # Votes
Mark Blicavs GEEL 46 3
Bailey Smith GEEL 3 2
Zach Merrett ESSE 7 1

AFLCA Champion Votes

Player Team # Votes 5 4 3 2 1

Player Statistics

Geelong

# Player Pos. ToG% GL BH DI KI HB MK HO TA CL CR FF FA RF IF
30 Atkins, Tom RO 75% 0 1 20 5 15 1 0 6 5 0 2 0 0 1
46 Blicavs, Mark WR 84% 2 0 22 8 14 6 17 0 2 5 0 2 0 4
12 Bowes, Jack HFFL 78% 0 1 24 10 14 4 0 4 1 4 1 1 2 5
5 Cameron, Jeremy FF 93% 4 5 15 13 2 7 0 2 0 2 3 0 1 1
13 Clark, Jhye SUB↑ 49% 0 0 6 2 4 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0
45 Close, Brad HFFR 81% 1 3 15 10 5 4 0 1 1 0 2 0 0 2
16 De Koning, Sam FB 91% 0 0 8 5 3 3 0 0 0 3 1 1 1 0
28 Dempsey, Oliver INT 80% 1 1 12 6 6 2 0 6 1 1 0 0 0 2
39 Guthrie, Zach HBFR 86% 0 0 16 13 3 10 0 3 0 1 1 0 4 4
38 Henry, Jack BPL 37% 0 0 6 6 0 5 0 0 0 4 0 1 0 0
9 Holmes, Max C 84% 0 0 29 12 17 4 0 3 2 5 0 3 2 8
17 Humphries, Lawson WL 88% 0 0 11 11 0 5 0 3 0 2 0 1 4 0
10 Knevitt, Mitch INT 65% 0 1 17 8 9 6 0 1 3 3 0 0 4 2
7 Mannagh, Shaun CHF 83% 3 0 20 12 8 4 0 5 2 5 0 1 2 6
32 Miers, Gryan INT 74% 1 2 22 16 6 6 0 3 4 2 1 1 0 5
34 Mullin, Oisin HBFL 85% 0 0 9 5 4 3 0 2 1 4 0 2 0 2
33 Neale, Shannon FPR 80% 3 0 7 5 2 5 3 4 0 1 0 1 0 0
42 O'Connor, Mark INT 78% 0 0 16 11 5 5 0 2 0 2 2 0 2 3
14 O'Sullivan, Connor BPR 86% 0 0 11 7 4 10 0 2 0 1 1 0 2 0
3 Smith, Bailey RR 79% 0 1 31 25 6 6 0 4 9 3 1 1 4 6
1 Stanley, Rhys RU 78% 0 0 6 6 0 2 24 1 1 3 2 2 0 1
18 Stengle, Tyson FPL 81% 0 3 10 7 3 3 0 3 2 1 0 0 0 0
44 Stewart, Tom CHB 86% 0 0 18 14 4 6 0 2 1 4 0 1 6 0
Rushed 1
Total (23 players) 15 19 351 217 134 108 44 58 35 56 17 18 35 52

J. Clark replaced .

Essendon

# Player Pos. ToG% GL BH DI KI HB MK HO TA CL CR FF FA RF IF
46 Blakiston, Lachlan CHB 97% 0 0 6 4 2 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0
36 Clarke, Angus FPL 86% 0 0 17 10 7 7 0 1 0 4 0 1 2 2
22 Durham, Sam RO 79% 0 0 18 8 10 2 0 7 6 3 0 2 0 4
28 Duursma, Xavier INT 81% 1 0 14 10 4 8 0 0 1 2 1 0 2 1
17 Goldstein, Todd RU 79% 0 0 17 5 12 3 23 1 3 5 2 3 1 3
11 Gresham, Jade HFFR 87% 1 0 19 12 7 4 0 5 2 4 2 1 0 5
35 Guelfi, Matt WL 85% 1 0 9 5 4 3 0 3 0 1 1 0 0 1
8 Hobbs, Ben INT 64% 0 0 10 5 5 3 0 2 2 4 0 2 1 1
10 Kako, Isaac FPR 81% 0 1 11 6 5 1 0 5 3 1 0 1 0 2
15 Laverde, Jayden FB 95% 0 0 15 11 4 9 0 2 0 3 2 1 5 0
34 Lual, Luamon INT↓ 53% 0 0 3 2 1 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 1
26 May, Archie INT 75% 0 0 7 6 1 4 1 2 0 3 1 0 0 2
1 McGrath, Andrew (vc) BPL 82% 1 0 23 8 15 7 0 5 2 3 0 0 1 2
48 McMahon, Liam FF 76% 4 1 11 8 3 3 0 0 0 2 1 1 1 1
29 Menzie, Jye SUB↑ 27% 0 0 2 2 0 1 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 1
7 Merrett, Zach (c) C 82% 1 1 27 18 9 3 0 10 6 5 4 0 4 4
42 Nguyen, Jayden BPR 83% 0 0 5 2 3 1 0 7 0 1 1 0 2 0
16 Perkins, Archie HFFL 74% 0 0 15 5 10 4 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2
25 Prior, Jaxon WR 76% 0 0 14 11 3 5 0 2 0 2 0 0 3 2
27 Redman, Mason HBFL 96% 0 1 24 22 2 7 0 2 0 6 0 3 9 4
21 Roberts, Archie HBFR 87% 0 0 33 18 15 7 0 1 1 7 1 1 3 3
9 Shiel, Dylan RR 72% 0 0 23 13 10 6 0 2 0 7 0 1 2 4
20 Wright, Peter CHF 85% 1 1 10 6 4 4 7 2 0 2 1 0 0 2
Rushed 0
Total (23 players) 10 5 333 197 136 92 31 66 26 69 18 17 36 47

J. Menzie replaced L. Lual.

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

Geelong Coach: Chris Scott
BACK FOLLOWER INTERCHANGE
1 A. McGrath (vc) 15 J. Laverde 42 J. Nguyen 1 R. Stanley 28 O. Dempsey
33 S. Neale 5 J. Cameron 18 T. Stengle 3 B. Smith 10 M. Knevitt
FORWARD 30 T. Atkins 32 G. Miers
HALF-BACK

42 M. O'Connor
27 M. Redman 46 L. Blakiston 21 A. Roberts

13 J. Clark
45 B. Close 7 S. Mannagh 12 J. Bowes



HALF-FORWARD



CENTRE



35 M. Guelfi 7 Z. Merrett (c) 25 J. Prior



46 M. Blicavs 9 M. Holmes 17 L. Humphries FOLLOWER INTERCHANGE
CENTRE 17 T. Goldstein 28 X. Duursma
HALF-FORWARD 9 D. Shiel 8 B. Hobbs
16 A. Perkins 20 P. Wright 11 J. Gresham 22 S. Durham 34 L. Lual
39 Z. Guthrie 44 T. Stewart 34 O. Mullin

26 A. May
HALF-BACK

29 J. Menzie
FORWARD



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



14 C. O'Sullivan 16 S. De Koning 38 J. Henry



BACK



Essendon Coach: Brad Scott

Score Timeline

Quarter Team Scoring Event Score Time
Q1 GEEL Bailey Smith behind 0.1.1 - 0.0.0 02:38
ESSE Mason Redman behind 0.1.1 - 0.1.1 03:56
GEEL Shannon Neale goal 1.1.7 - 0.1.1 08:03
GEEL Shannon Neale goal 2.1.13 - 0.1.1 09:53
GEEL Tyson Stengle behind 2.2.14 - 0.1.1 11:10
GEEL Shannon Neale goal 3.2.20 - 0.1.1 12:19
GEEL Oliver Dempsey goal 4.2.26 - 0.1.1 15:44
GEEL Jack Bowes behind 4.3.27 - 0.1.1 18:00
ESSE Isaac Kako behind 4.3.27 - 0.2.2 20:18
GEEL Tyson Stengle behind 4.4.28 - 0.2.2 23:21
ESSE Liam McMahon goal 4.4.28 - 1.2.8 24:27
GEEL Tyson Stengle behind 4.5.29 - 1.2.8 26:37
Q2 ESSE Liam McMahon goal 4.5.29 - 2.2.14 03:11
GEEL Jeremy Cameron goal 5.5.35 - 2.2.14 05:28
GEEL Jeremy Cameron goal 6.5.41 - 2.2.14 09:58
GEEL Mitch Knevitt behind 6.6.42 - 2.2.14 12:47
GEEL Jeremy Cameron behind 6.7.43 - 2.2.14 16:06
ESSE Liam McMahon behind 6.7.43 - 2.3.15 17:33
GEEL Brad Close behind 6.8.44 - 2.3.15 20:52
GEEL Jeremy Cameron behind 6.9.45 - 2.3.15 22:29
GEEL Brad Close goal 7.9.51 - 2.3.15 23:37
GEEL Oliver Dempsey behind 7.10.52 - 2.3.15 27:54
Q3 GEEL Mark Blicavs goal 8.10.58 - 2.3.15 03:20
ESSE Liam McMahon goal 8.10.58 - 3.3.21 06:16
ESSE Zach Merrett behind 8.10.58 - 3.4.22 08:16
GEEL Gryan Miers behind 8.11.59 - 3.4.22 09:30
GEEL Brad Close behind 8.12.60 - 3.4.22 12:40
GEEL Shaun Mannagh goal 9.12.66 - 3.4.22 13:39
ESSE Peter Wright behind 9.12.66 - 3.5.23 16:10
GEEL Gryan Miers behind 9.13.67 - 3.5.23 16:47
ESSE Zach Merrett goal 9.13.67 - 4.5.29 18:25
ESSE Matt Guelfi goal 9.13.67 - 5.5.35 21:59
ESSE Liam McMahon goal 9.13.67 - 6.5.41 23:19
ESSE Jade Gresham goal 9.13.67 - 7.5.47 27:07
GEEL Gryan Miers goal 10.13.73 - 7.5.47 29:45
GEEL Shaun Mannagh goal 11.13.79 - 7.5.47 31:56
Q4 ESSE Andrew McGrath goal 11.13.79 - 8.5.53 04:31
GEEL Rushed behind 11.14.80 - 8.5.53 06:23
ESSE Xavier Duursma goal 11.14.80 - 9.5.59 08:04
GEEL Shaun Mannagh goal 12.14.86 - 9.5.59 09:23
GEEL Mark Blicavs goal 13.14.92 - 9.5.59 11:47
ESSE Peter Wright goal 13.14.92 - 10.5.65 14:25
GEEL Brad Close behind 13.15.93 - 10.5.65 17:42
GEEL Jeremy Cameron goal 14.15.99 - 10.5.65 20:47
GEEL Jeremy Cameron behind 14.16.100 - 10.5.65 22:34
GEEL Jeremy Cameron goal 15.16.106 - 10.5.65 24:41
GEEL Tom Atkins behind 15.17.107 - 10.5.65 27:10
GEEL Jeremy Cameron behind 15.18.108 - 10.5.65 29:47
GEEL Jeremy Cameron behind 15.19.109 - 10.5.65 32:07