2026 AFL Season Round 7: Gold Coast v Essendon

This is the match report for the match played on 18 April 2026 between Gold Coast and Essendon during round seven of the 2026 season of the Australian Football League. Gold Coast hosted Essendon at People First Stadium. In the absence of Noah Anderson, vice-captain Touk Miller captained the hosts with Sam Collins as vice-captain. Andrew McGrath captained the visitors. The hosts were coached by Damien Hardwick and the visitors were coached by Brad Scott.

Gold Coast (17.17.119) defeated Essendon (17.8.110).

Match Details

Season: 2026 AFL Season
Round: Round 7
Teams: Gold Coast v Essendon
Date: Saturday 18 April 2026
Time: 1:15 PM
Venue: People First Stadium
Attendance: 19,039

Match Results

Outcome: Gold Coast def. Essendon
Score: 17.17.119 - 17.8.110

Quarter Breakdown

	Q1			Q2			Q3			Q4			Final
Gold Coast	5	.	3	8	.	10	15	.	11	17	.	17	17	.	17	(119)
Essendon	4	.	1	10	.	1	14	.	5	17	.	8	17	.	8	(110)
Margin	GCST by 8			ESSE by 3			GCST by 12			GCST by 9			GCST by 9
Duration	32:39			30:30			34:52			30:01			2:08:02

Score Worm

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

Honour Roll

Gold Coast

Captain: Touk Miller (acting)
Vice-Captain: Sam Collins
Coach: Damien Hardwick

Essendon

Captain: Andrew McGrath
Coach: Brad Scott

Brownlow Votes

Player	Team	#	Votes
Christian Petracca	GCST	3	3
Matt Rowell	GCST	18	2
Zach Merrett	ESSE	7	1

AFLCA Champion Votes

Player	Team	#	Votes	5	4	3	2	1

Player Statistics

Gold Coast

#	Player	Pos.	ToG%	GL	BH	DI	KI	HB	MK	HO	TA	CL	CR	FF	FA	RF	IF
48	Adams, Oscar	INT	70%	0	0	11	1	10	4	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
1	Andrew, Mac	BPL	74%	0	1	11	6	5	4	5	4	0	1	1	0	0	2
10	Ballard, Charlie	HFFR	68%	0	0	6	5	1	5	0	0	0	3	0	1	1	0
25	Collins, Sam (vc)	FB	93%	0	0	15	11	4	10	0	2	0	1	0	0	6	1
26	Graham, Will	INT	76%	0	0	10	4	6	3	0	2	1	1	0	0	1	4
19	Humphrey, Bailey	CHF	81%	0	3	19	11	8	6	0	6	2	4	1	2	0	7
16	Jeffrey, Joel	WR	82%	0	0	18	6	12	2	0	0	1	1	0	0	5	1
34	King, Ben	FF	92%	3	2	8	7	1	6	0	0	0	1	1	1	0	1
8	Lombard, Leo	FPR	73%	0	0	10	2	8	3	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	4
22	Long, Ben	HFFL	82%	2	1	12	10	2	5	0	2	0	2	0	2	0	3
11	Miller, Touk (ac)	RR	88%	1	1	26	12	14	2	0	6	4	5	2	0	2	5
2	Noble, John	HBFL	79%	0	0	25	13	12	1	0	1	1	4	2	2	5	1
3	Petracca, Christian	C	81%	3	1	25	10	15	4	0	3	6	6	0	2	1	3
27	Powell, Wil	CHB	80%	0	2	19	13	6	4	0	9	2	4	0	2	4	5
20	Read, Ethan	FPL	78%	2	2	16	9	7	5	2	1	2	2	0	1	0	1
17	Rioli, Daniel	HBFR	78%	0	0	23	11	12	3	0	1	0	1	0	0	2	3
29	Rogers, Jake	INT	62%	1	0	10	5	5	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	2
18	Rowell, Matt	RO	82%	0	0	35	15	20	1	0	4	5	8	3	3	2	3
6	Uwland, Bodhi	BPR	81%	0	0	24	17	7	5	0	1	0	5	1	0	3	4
32	Uwland, Zeke	INT	69%	1	0	14	8	6	4	0	1	0	2	0	1	2	2
4	Walter, Jed	INT	67%	2	1	9	8	1	2	1	1	0	4	2	1	0	3
14	Weller, Lachie	WL	87%	2	0	21	9	12	1	0	3	1	3	1	1	0	3
28	Witts, Jarrod	RU	75%	0	0	14	6	8	4	36	4	4	2	1	1	2	2
Rushed					3
Total (23 players)				17	17	381	199	182	86	44	51	29	63	15	20	37	60

Essendon

#	Player	Pos.	ToG%	GL	BH	DI	KI	HB	MK	HO	TA	CL	CR	FF	FA	RF	IF
46	Blakiston, Lachlan	RU	81%	0	0	7	6	1	3	8	1	0	4	1	1	0	2
30	Caddy, Nate	CHF	93%	1	1	9	5	4	2	0	2	0	3	0	1	0	1
6	Caldwell, Jye	C	77%	1	2	23	15	8	7	0	6	4	4	1	2	1	4
44	Day-Wicks, Archer	INT	75%	0	0	10	6	4	4	0	5	1	2	1	1	3	2
22	Durham, Sam	HFFL	80%	0	0	17	8	9	1	0	5	1	0	2	0	0	5
28	Duursma, Xavier	INT	75%	2	0	13	8	5	5	0	2	1	1	2	0	1	0
45	Edwards, Thomas	INT	64%	2	0	8	6	2	2	0	1	0	1	1	0	0	2
41	El-Hawli, Saad	WR	78%	1	0	14	9	5	4	0	6	2	4	0	0	1	0
2	Farrow, Jacob	HBFR	77%	0	0	17	12	5	4	0	0	0	1	0	0	7	1
11	Gresham, Jade	WL	83%	1	1	10	7	3	5	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0
10	Kako, Isaac	FPL	83%	2	0	13	6	7	1	0	3	0	4	1	1	0	3
4	Langford, Kyle	HFFR	82%	0	0	21	14	7	5	0	1	1	4	1	1	5	1
26	May, Archie	FPR	84%	2	0	7	7	0	5	0	8	0	3	1	0	0	4
1	McGrath, Andrew (c)	BPR	82%	1	0	19	10	9	2	0	5	3	0	1	0	0	6
32	McKay, Ben	FB	90%	0	0	6	3	3	3	0	2	0	1	0	1	1	0
7	Merrett, Zach	RO	86%	1	1	34	22	12	9	0	8	2	5	1	2	7	3
3	Parish, Darcy	RR	82%	0	0	30	18	12	5	0	5	11	5	2	2	1	10
31	Reid, Zach	INT	82%	0	0	12	10	2	6	0	0	0	1	1	1	2	0
14	Ridley, Jordan	BPL	40%	0	0	11	9	2	7	0	0	0	2	0	0	1	2
21	Roberts, Archie	HBFL	80%	0	0	33	24	9	7	0	1	2	3	2	0	7	4
9	Robey, Sullivan	CHB	74%	2	0	11	7	4	2	0	4	1	4	1	0	0	3
5	Tsatas, Elijah	INT	74%	0	0	25	9	16	7	0	3	7	1	0	1	1	2
20	Wright, Peter	FF	79%	1	1	15	6	9	2	10	1	1	3	1	1	4	0
Rushed					2
Total (23 players)				17	8	365	227	138	98	18	72	37	56	20	15	42	55

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

Gold Coast							Coach: Damien Hardwick
BACK							FOLLOWER		INTERCHANGE
	14	J. Ridley	32	B. McKay	1	A. McGrath (c)	28	J. Witts	48	O. Adams
	8	L. Lombard	34	B. King	20	E. Read	11	T. Miller (ac)	26	W. Graham
FORWARD							18	M. Rowell	29	J. Rogers
HALF-BACK									32	Z. Uwland
	21	A. Roberts	9	S. Robey	2	J. Farrow			4	J. Walter
	10	C. Ballard	19	B. Humphrey	22	B. Long
HALF-FORWARD
CENTRE
	11	J. Gresham	6	J. Caldwell	41	S. El-Hawli
	16	J. Jeffrey	3	C. Petracca	14	L. Weller	FOLLOWER		INTERCHANGE
CENTRE							46	L. Blakiston	44	A. Day-Wicks
HALF-FORWARD							3	D. Parish	28	X. Duursma
	22	S. Durham	30	N. Caddy	4	K. Langford	7	Z. Merrett	45	T. Edwards
	17	D. Rioli	27	W. Powell	2	J. Noble			31	Z. Reid
HALF-BACK									5	E. Tsatas
FORWARD
	10	I. Kako	20	P. Wright	26	A. May
	6	B. Uwland	25	S. Collins (vc)	1	M. Andrew
BACK
Essendon							Coach: Brad Scott

Score Timeline

Quarter	Team	Scoring Event	Score			Time
Q1	ESSE	Saad El-Hawli goal	0.0.0	-	1.0.6	01:33
	GCST	Christian Petracca behind	0.1.1	-	1.0.6	03:47
	GCST	Christian Petracca goal	1.1.7	-	1.0.6	05:08
	ESSE	Archie May goal	1.1.7	-	2.0.12	08:56
	ESSE	Xavier Duursma goal	1.1.7	-	3.0.18	11:36
	GCST	Jed Walter goal	2.1.13	-	3.0.18	13:03
	ESSE	Isaac Kako goal	2.1.13	-	4.0.24	15:10
	GCST	Mac Andrew behind	2.2.14	-	4.0.24	20:10
	GCST	Ben Long behind	2.3.15	-	4.0.24	21:35
	ESSE	Rushed behind	2.3.15	-	4.1.25	25:23
	GCST	Ben King goal	3.3.21	-	4.1.25	28:17
	GCST	Ben Long goal	4.3.27	-	4.1.25	29:24
	GCST	Ben Long goal	5.3.33	-	4.1.25	31:07
Q2	GCST	Wil Powell behind	5.4.34	-	4.1.25	00:17
	ESSE	Jade Gresham goal	5.4.34	-	5.1.31	02:14
	GCST	Ethan Read goal	6.4.40	-	5.1.31	04:49
	GCST	Bailey Humphrey behind	6.5.41	-	5.1.31	05:50
	GCST	Rushed behind	6.6.42	-	5.1.31	06:36
	GCST	Ethan Read behind	6.7.43	-	5.1.31	07:41
	GCST	Touk Miller behind	6.8.44	-	5.1.31	08:14
	GCST	Bailey Humphrey behind	6.9.45	-	5.1.31	09:21
	GCST	Ben King goal	7.9.51	-	5.1.31	14:59
	ESSE	Peter Wright goal	7.9.51	-	6.1.37	18:04
	ESSE	Thomas Edwards goal	7.9.51	-	7.1.43	19:17
	GCST	Rushed behind	7.10.52	-	7.1.43	21:04
	GCST	Christian Petracca goal	8.10.58	-	7.1.43	22:58
	ESSE	Archie May goal	8.10.58	-	8.1.49	25:47
	ESSE	Zach Merrett goal	8.10.58	-	9.1.55	26:53
	ESSE	Xavier Duursma goal	8.10.58	-	10.1.61	30:29
Q3	GCST	Ben King goal	9.10.64	-	10.1.61	02:24
	ESSE	Jade Gresham behind	9.10.64	-	10.2.62	03:34
	GCST	Ethan Read goal	10.10.70	-	10.2.62	04:29
	ESSE	Zach Merrett behind	10.10.70	-	10.3.63	06:07
	GCST	Bailey Humphrey behind	10.11.71	-	10.3.63	07:58
	ESSE	Rushed behind	10.11.71	-	10.4.64	08:31
	ESSE	Isaac Kako goal	10.11.71	-	11.4.70	12:45
	ESSE	Andrew McGrath goal	10.11.71	-	12.4.76	13:55
	ESSE	Nate Caddy behind	10.11.71	-	12.5.77	17:24
	ESSE	Sullivan Robey goal	10.11.71	-	13.5.83	19:37
	GCST	Touk Miller goal	11.11.77	-	13.5.83	20:46
	ESSE	Jye Caldwell goal	11.11.77	-	14.5.89	22:39
	GCST	Jake Rogers goal	12.11.83	-	14.5.89	24:42
	GCST	Christian Petracca goal	13.11.89	-	14.5.89	27:26
	GCST	Zeke Uwland goal	14.11.95	-	14.5.89	29:01
	GCST	Jed Walter goal	15.11.101	-	14.5.89	30:45
Q4	GCST	Lachie Weller goal	16.11.107	-	14.5.89	00:22
	ESSE	Thomas Edwards goal	16.11.107	-	15.5.95	02:01
	ESSE	Nate Caddy goal	16.11.107	-	16.5.101	03:40
	GCST	Rushed behind	16.12.108	-	16.5.101	05:52
	ESSE	Sullivan Robey goal	16.12.108	-	17.5.107	10:57
	GCST	Lachie Weller goal	17.12.114	-	17.5.107	12:15
	GCST	Ben King behind	17.13.115	-	17.5.107	15:19
	GCST	Ben King behind	17.14.116	-	17.5.107	20:23
	ESSE	Jye Caldwell behind	17.14.116	-	17.6.108	21:12
	ESSE	Jye Caldwell behind	17.14.116	-	17.7.109	21:47
	GCST	Ethan Read behind	17.15.117	-	17.7.109	25:07
	GCST	Wil Powell behind	17.16.118	-	17.7.109	26:21
	GCST	Jed Walter behind	17.17.119	-	17.7.109	27:30
	ESSE	Peter Wright behind	17.17.119	-	17.8.110	29:39

Links

2026 AFL Season

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