2026 AFL Season Round 8: Western Bulldogs v Sydney

This is the match report for the match played on 23 April 2026 between the Western Bulldogs and Sydney during round eight of the 2026 season of the Australian Football League. The Western Bulldogs hosted Sydney at Marvel Stadium. Marcus Bontempelli captained the hosts. Callum Mills captained the visitors. The hosts were coached by Luke Beveridge and the visitors were coached by Dean Cox.

The Western Bulldogs (9.6.60) were defeated by Sydney (18.18.126).

Match Details

Season: 2026 AFL Season
Round: Round 8
Teams: Western Bulldogs v Sydney
Date: Thursday 23 April 2026
Time: 7:30 PM
Venue: Marvel Stadium
Attendance: 29,523

Match Results

Outcome: Western Bulldogs def. by Sydney
Score: 9.6.60 - 18.18.126

Quarter Breakdown

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
Western Bulldogs 4 . 2 6 . 3 8 . 5 9 . 6 9 . 6 (60)
Sydney 3 . 4 7 . 10 12 . 15 18 . 18 18 . 18 (126)
Margin WBUL by 4 SYDN by 13 SYDN by 34 SYDN by 66 SYDN by 66
Duration 31:24 29:26 35:27 30:11 2:06:28

Score Worm

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

Honour Roll

Western Bulldogs

Captain: Marcus Bontempelli
Coach: Luke Beveridge

Sydney

Captain: Callum Mills
Coach: Dean Cox

Brownlow Votes

Player Team # Votes
Charlie Curnow SYDN 35 3
Brodie Grundy SYDN 4 2
Marcus Bontempelli WBUL 4 1

AFLCA Champion Votes

Player Team # Votes 5 4 3 2 1

Player Statistics

Western Bulldogs

# Player Pos. ToG% GL BH DI KI HB MK HO TA CL CR FF FA RF IF
13 Baker, Oskar WL 61% 1 0 15 10 5 5 0 0 1 3 0 1 2 1
4 Bontempelli, Marcus (c) C 88% 2 0 29 15 14 3 0 5 6 5 0 0 5 7
29 Bramble, Lachie RR 86% 0 0 22 13 9 4 0 3 0 2 0 0 6 4
5 Busslinger, Jedd INT 96% 0 0 19 14 5 5 0 1 1 2 1 1 5 2
31 Dale, Bailey HBFR 79% 0 0 31 25 6 4 0 2 2 4 2 0 7 1
42 Davidson, Sam INT 76% 0 0 14 10 4 5 0 3 0 3 0 1 1 1
26 Dolan, Josh RU 68% 1 1 13 6 7 4 0 2 0 2 1 1 0 3
25 Emmett, Louis INT 67% 0 1 8 5 3 4 9 4 1 1 2 0 0 2
27 Freijah, Joel FPL 90% 0 1 15 6 9 5 0 6 1 5 0 4 1 2
43 Gardner, Ryan BPR 90% 0 0 5 4 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 1 1
6 Hynes, Cooper INT 76% 1 0 8 5 3 2 0 3 0 1 0 0 1 0
11 Jaques, Lachie HBFL 77% 0 0 17 9 8 4 0 0 0 1 2 0 3 1
8 Kennedy, Matthew INT 59% 0 0 15 7 8 3 0 5 2 6 0 4 1 2
24 Khamis, Buku FB 96% 0 0 6 5 1 4 0 0 0 1 0 1 3 0
28 Lewis, Will CHF 84% 1 1 8 4 4 1 0 1 0 5 1 4 0 1
33 Naughton, Aaron FF 62% 1 0 7 5 2 5 0 0 0 2 1 2 0 1
20 Richards, Ed RO 79% 1 0 18 11 7 1 0 5 5 4 1 1 1 3
9 Sanders, Ryley HFFL 79% 0 0 28 10 18 2 0 7 6 3 0 1 2 4
37 Sellwood, Michael BPL 77% 0 0 17 11 6 5 0 3 0 5 0 3 6 2
40 Smith, Lachlan CHB 73% 0 0 10 3 7 1 13 5 4 2 2 1 1 1
1 Treloar, Adam HFFR 61% 0 0 25 9 16 4 0 2 4 2 1 0 2 1
14 West, Rhylee FPR 87% 0 0 9 4 5 3 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 2
34 Williams, Bailey WR 89% 1 2 23 17 6 10 0 2 1 2 1 1 1 4
Rushed 0
Total (23 players) 9 6 362 208 154 84 22 60 34 66 15 27 49 46

Sydney

# Player Pos. ToG% GL BH DI KI HB MK HO TA CL CR FF FA RF IF
36 Amartey, Joel FPL 75% 3 2 8 5 3 3 1 1 0 2 0 2 0 1
26 Bice, Riley HBFR 76% 0 0 18 9 9 7 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 3
22 Blakey, Nick HBFL 82% 0 0 22 12 10 1 0 2 1 6 2 1 5 4
25 Cootee, Billy HFFL 65% 1 1 8 4 4 3 0 2 1 4 0 2 0 1
7 Cunningham, Harry INT 70% 0 0 11 5 6 3 0 2 0 1 0 0 1 1
35 Curnow, Charlie FF 87% 7 2 15 14 1 8 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 1
28 Edwards, Will BPL 88% 0 0 12 7 5 3 0 2 0 5 3 1 1 0
4 Grundy, Brodie RU 76% 2 0 18 7 11 5 35 4 2 4 1 2 3 1
17 Jordon, James RR 83% 0 0 13 7 6 1 0 7 5 3 1 1 2 4
44 Lloyd, Jake HFFR 82% 1 1 23 14 9 8 0 3 0 0 0 0 1 8
30 McCartin, Tom FB 84% 0 0 23 12 11 8 0 3 0 4 3 2 7 1
6 McDonald, Logan INT 76% 0 1 5 3 2 2 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
27 McInerney, Justin RO 85% 0 1 24 9 15 2 0 3 5 2 2 1 2 2
14 Mills, Callum (c) CHB 75% 0 0 22 13 9 6 0 2 0 2 1 0 7 2
11 Papley, Tom CHF 74% 1 0 23 10 13 5 0 4 1 8 1 1 0 7
24 Rampe, Dane BPR 82% 0 0 15 4 11 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
34 Roberts, Matt WR 90% 0 0 27 16 11 5 0 1 1 4 3 0 1 4
10 Rosas, Malcolm FPR 78% 0 1 12 5 7 1 0 5 2 1 0 0 1 2
8 Rowbottom, James INT 69% 0 0 16 10 6 2 0 4 4 3 1 0 1 1
13 Serong, Jai WL 96% 0 0 22 14 8 4 0 3 4 3 1 1 0 9
12 Sheldrick, Angus INT 65% 0 0 22 12 10 4 0 3 1 3 2 1 0 8
1 Warner, Chad C 76% 3 3 20 17 3 4 0 7 2 3 3 0 1 3
15 Wicks, Sam INT 66% 0 0 20 6 14 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 3
Rushed 6
Total (23 players) 18 18 399 215 184 91 42 60 29 61 27 15 37 69

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

Western Bulldogs Coach: Luke Beveridge
BACK FOLLOWER INTERCHANGE
28 W. Edwards 30 T. McCartin 24 D. Rampe 26 J. Dolan 5 J. Busslinger
14 R. West 33 A. Naughton 27 J. Freijah 29 L. Bramble 42 S. Davidson
FORWARD 20 E. Richards 25 L. Emmett
HALF-BACK

6 C. Hynes
22 N. Blakey 14 C. Mills (c) 26 R. Bice

8 M. Kennedy
1 A. Treloar 28 W. Lewis 9 R. Sanders



HALF-FORWARD



CENTRE



13 J. Serong 1 C. Warner 34 M. Roberts



34 B. Williams 4 M. Bontempelli (c) 13 O. Baker FOLLOWER INTERCHANGE
CENTRE 4 B. Grundy 7 H. Cunningham
HALF-FORWARD 17 J. Jordon 6 L. McDonald
25 B. Cootee 11 T. Papley 44 J. Lloyd 27 J. McInerney 8 J. Rowbottom
31 B. Dale 40 L. Smith 11 L. Jaques

12 A. Sheldrick
HALF-BACK

15 S. Wicks
FORWARD



36 J. Amartey 35 C. Curnow 10 M. Rosas



43 R. Gardner 24 B. Khamis 37 M. Sellwood



BACK



Sydney Coach: Dean Cox

Score Timeline

Quarter Team Scoring Event Score Time
Q1 WBUL Aaron Naughton goal 1.0.6 - 0.0.0 01:11
WBUL Will Lewis goal 2.0.12 - 0.0.0 05:32
WBUL Josh Dolan goal 3.0.18 - 0.0.0 07:45
SYDN Justin McInerney behind 3.0.18 - 0.1.1 08:50
SYDN Charlie Curnow goal 3.0.18 - 1.1.7 11:56
WBUL Louis Emmett behind 3.1.19 - 1.1.7 13:52
SYDN Chad Warner behind 3.1.19 - 1.2.8 17:06
SYDN Joel Amartey goal 3.1.19 - 2.2.14 17:36
WBUL Bailey Williams behind 3.2.20 - 2.2.14 19:22
SYDN Joel Amartey goal 3.2.20 - 3.2.20 20:36
SYDN Rushed behind 3.2.20 - 3.3.21 22:23
WBUL Ed Richards goal 4.2.26 - 3.3.21 25:12
SYDN Joel Amartey behind 4.2.26 - 3.4.22 30:32
Q2 SYDN Charlie Curnow goal 4.2.26 - 4.4.28 02:30
SYDN Logan McDonald behind 4.2.26 - 4.5.29 04:13
WBUL Marcus Bontempelli goal 5.2.32 - 4.5.29 05:03
SYDN Rushed behind 5.2.32 - 4.6.30 07:32
SYDN Rushed behind 5.2.32 - 4.7.31 08:11
SYDN Charlie Curnow behind 5.2.32 - 4.8.32 08:57
SYDN Charlie Curnow goal 5.2.32 - 5.8.38 10:39
WBUL Bailey Williams behind 5.3.33 - 5.8.38 12:37
SYDN Joel Amartey goal 5.3.33 - 6.8.44 13:59
WBUL Cooper Hynes goal 6.3.39 - 6.8.44 20:18
SYDN Charlie Curnow goal 6.3.39 - 7.8.50 24:04
SYDN Rushed behind 6.3.39 - 7.9.51 25:58
SYDN Joel Amartey behind 6.3.39 - 7.10.52 29:13
Q3 SYDN Charlie Curnow behind 6.3.39 - 7.11.53 03:08
SYDN Rushed behind 6.3.39 - 7.12.54 04:18
SYDN Brodie Grundy goal 6.3.39 - 8.12.60 09:30
SYDN Brodie Grundy goal 6.3.39 - 9.12.66 12:53
WBUL Will Lewis behind 6.4.40 - 9.12.66 14:15
SYDN Charlie Curnow goal 6.4.40 - 10.12.72 15:15
WBUL Bailey Williams goal 7.4.46 - 10.12.72 17:56
SYDN Malcolm Rosas behind 7.4.46 - 10.13.73 19:52
SYDN Chad Warner behind 7.4.46 - 10.14.74 21:15
SYDN Billy Cootee behind 7.4.46 - 10.15.75 22:19
SYDN Tom Papley goal 7.4.46 - 11.15.81 23:06
WBUL Josh Dolan behind 7.5.47 - 11.15.81 25:58
WBUL Marcus Bontempelli goal 8.5.53 - 11.15.81 32:06
SYDN Jake Lloyd goal 8.5.53 - 12.15.87 34:07
Q4 SYDN Chad Warner behind 8.5.53 - 12.16.88 01:08
SYDN Billy Cootee goal 8.5.53 - 13.16.94 03:09
WBUL Joel Freijah behind 8.6.54 - 13.16.94 05:03
SYDN Jake Lloyd behind 8.6.54 - 13.17.95 05:52
SYDN Chad Warner goal 8.6.54 - 14.17.101 07:05
SYDN Chad Warner goal 8.6.54 - 15.17.107 11:57
SYDN Charlie Curnow goal 8.6.54 - 16.17.113 13:36
SYDN Charlie Curnow goal 8.6.54 - 17.17.119 23:43
SYDN Rushed behind 8.6.54 - 17.18.120 25:32
SYDN Chad Warner goal 8.6.54 - 18.18.126 26:40
WBUL Oskar Baker goal 9.6.60 - 18.18.126 28:26