2026 AFL Season Round 18: Sydney v Western Bulldogs

This is the match report for the match played on 3 July 2026 between Sydney and the Western Bulldogs during round eighteen of the 2026 season of the Australian Football League. Sydney hosted the Western Bulldogs at the SCG. Callum Mills captained the hosts with Isaac Heeney as vice-captain. Marcus Bontempelli captained the visitors. The hosts were coached by Dean Cox and the visitors were coached by Luke Beveridge.

Sydney (13.12.90) defeated the Western Bulldogs (7.13.55).

Match Details

Season: 2026 AFL Season
Round: Round 18
Teams: Sydney v Western Bulldogs
Date: Friday 3 July 2026
Time: 7:40 PM
Venue: SCG
Attendance: 35,227

Match Results

Outcome: Sydney def. Western Bulldogs
Score: 13.12.90 - 7.13.55

Quarter Breakdown

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
Sydney 5 . 3 8 . 5 10 . 10 13 . 12 13 . 12 (90)
Western Bulldogs 0 . 3 3 . 8 6 . 10 7 . 13 7 . 13 (55)
Margin SYDN by 30 SYDN by 27 SYDN by 24 SYDN by 35 SYDN by 35
Duration 32:52 33:18 30:31 31:31 2:08:12

Score Worm

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

Honour Roll

Sydney

Captain: Callum Mills
Vice-Captain: Isaac Heeney
Coach: Dean Cox

Western Bulldogs

Captain: Marcus Bontempelli
Coach: Luke Beveridge

Brownlow Votes

Player Team # Votes
Charlie Curnow SYDN 35 3
Brodie Grundy SYDN 4 2
Isaac Heeney SYDN 5 1

AFLCA Champion Votes

Player Team # Votes 5 4 3 2 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 87% 0 0 26 21 5 4 0 1 0 1 1 0 2 5
33 Cleary, Caiden FPL 75% 1 1 17 9 8 2 0 2 2 4 1 1 0 3
7 Cunningham, Harry HBFR 88% 0 0 14 8 6 5 0 4 1 2 0 2 2 2
35 Curnow, Charlie FF 81% 6 1 14 12 2 9 0 2 0 2 1 2 0 2
28 Edwards, Will FB 90% 0 0 8 6 2 4 0 0 0 2 0 1 4 2
4 Grundy, Brodie RU 80% 0 1 17 6 11 2 60 5 6 2 3 0 0 3
21 Gulden, Errol C 82% 0 0 27 18 9 3 0 4 2 4 0 2 2 7
29 Hamling, Joel INT 62% 1 1 5 2 3 4 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0
40 Hanily, Tom INT 58% 0 0 11 6 5 3 0 4 1 3 1 2 0 5
5 Heeney, Isaac (vc) RR 78% 1 0 27 14 13 2 0 6 8 3 3 0 0 4
17 Jordon, James HFFL 81% 0 0 13 5 8 2 0 7 3 2 1 1 1 2
32 Kyle, Harry INT 74% 0 0 9 6 3 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2
44 Lloyd, Jake CHF 90% 0 0 21 9 12 5 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 3
30 McCartin, Tom BPR 100% 0 0 18 11 7 11 0 2 0 0 0 0 4 0
2 McLean, Hayden FPR 75% 3 0 14 9 5 5 10 3 2 3 1 2 3 2
14 Mills, Callum (c) BPL 81% 0 0 26 15 11 9 0 2 0 0 0 0 6 0
24 Rampe, Dane HBFL 74% 0 0 11 7 4 4 0 1 0 2 0 2 2 0
34 Roberts, Matt WL 83% 0 0 25 12 13 4 0 2 2 2 1 0 2 4
8 Rowbottom, James HFFR 80% 0 1 12 8 4 2 0 5 4 2 0 0 0 3
13 Serong, Jai WR 85% 0 0 19 9 10 7 0 3 1 1 0 0 2 2
12 Sheldrick, Angus INT 64% 0 0 26 12 14 3 0 3 6 2 1 0 1 3
1 Warner, Chad RO 80% 1 1 24 14 10 3 0 5 3 4 0 0 1 6
37 Warner, Corey INT 53% 0 1 16 6 10 2 0 1 0 2 0 1 1 1
Rushed 5
Total (23 players) 13 12 400 225 175 97 70 64 42 45 14 17 33 61

Western Bulldogs

# Player Pos. ToG% GL BH DI KI HB MK HO TA CL CR FF FA RF IF
4 Bontempelli, Marcus (c) C 79% 0 2 19 11 8 0 0 3 9 2 0 0 0 7
29 Bramble, Lachie INT 78% 0 0 14 10 4 5 0 1 0 2 1 1 3 1
19 Budarick, Connor HBFL 40% 0 0 4 2 2 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1
17 Coffield, Nick BPL 68% 0 0 6 2 4 0 0 4 1 1 1 0 2 1
16 Croft, Jordan CHF 77% 2 0 10 5 5 2 0 1 0 2 2 1 0 2
31 Dale, Bailey HBFR 88% 1 1 32 29 3 8 0 4 2 3 1 1 10 3
44 English, Tim RU 78% 0 0 10 3 7 4 8 3 3 1 1 1 1 0
27 Freijah, Joel RR 79% 0 0 16 10 6 7 0 2 2 2 0 0 1 4
6 Hynes, Cooper HFFL 84% 0 0 14 3 11 2 0 6 1 1 0 0 1 1
32 Jones, Arthur INT 76% 2 2 10 7 3 4 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 2
35 Kennedy, Luke INT 66% 0 2 10 3 7 1 0 4 1 1 1 1 0 1
8 Kennedy, Matthew WL 80% 0 1 22 10 12 1 0 2 5 5 0 1 4 0
24 Khamis, Buku BPR 93% 0 1 8 7 1 3 0 1 0 1 0 0 4 0
28 Lewis, Will FPL 78% 0 1 8 4 4 2 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 1
21 Liberatore, Tom HFFR 70% 0 0 21 8 13 2 0 3 7 0 0 0 2 3
7 Lobb, Rory CHB 81% 0 0 13 9 4 5 21 4 1 2 1 1 1 3
30 McNeil, Lachlan INT 66% 0 0 10 5 5 4 0 2 0 2 0 0 0 0
33 Naughton, Aaron FF 87% 1 1 10 7 3 5 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 2
18 O'Donnell, James FB 100% 0 0 8 6 2 2 0 1 0 1 1 1 4 0
20 Richards, Ed RO 83% 0 0 29 18 11 3 0 6 8 7 1 4 6 4
9 Sanders, Ryley INT 78% 1 0 20 13 7 6 0 2 2 2 0 1 2 3
37 Sellwood, Michael WR 89% 0 0 13 5 8 3 0 6 0 2 1 0 3 0
3 Weightman, Cody FPR 81% 0 1 14 8 6 3 0 1 2 0 3 0 1 2
Rushed 1
Total (23 players) 7 13 321 185 136 72 29 60 45 40 17 14 46 41

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
17 N. Coffield 18 J. O'Donnell 24 B. Khamis 4 B. Grundy 29 J. Hamling
2 H. McLean 35 C. Curnow 33 C. Cleary 5 I. Heeney (vc) 40 T. Hanily
FORWARD 1 C. Warner 32 H. Kyle
HALF-BACK

12 A. Sheldrick
19 C. Budarick 7 R. Lobb 31 B. Dale

37 C. Warner
8 J. Rowbottom 44 J. Lloyd 17 J. Jordon



HALF-FORWARD



CENTRE



8 M. Kennedy 4 M. Bontempelli (c) 37 M. Sellwood



13 J. Serong 21 E. Gulden 34 M. Roberts FOLLOWER INTERCHANGE
CENTRE 44 T. English 29 L. Bramble
HALF-FORWARD 27 J. Freijah 32 A. Jones
6 C. Hynes 16 J. Croft 21 T. Liberatore 20 E. Richards 35 L. Kennedy
7 H. Cunningham 22 N. Blakey 24 D. Rampe

30 L. McNeil
HALF-BACK

9 R. Sanders
FORWARD



28 W. Lewis 33 A. Naughton 3 C. Weightman



30 T. McCartin 28 W. Edwards 14 C. Mills (c)



BACK



Western Bulldogs Coach: Luke Beveridge

Score Timeline

Quarter Team Scoring Event Score Time
Q1 SYDN Hayden McLean goal 1.0.6 - 0.0.0 01:29
SYDN Charlie Curnow goal 2.0.12 - 0.0.0 06:15
WBUL Will Lewis behind 2.0.12 - 0.1.1 13:55
SYDN Chad Warner behind 2.1.13 - 0.1.1 14:34
WBUL Luke Kennedy behind 2.1.13 - 0.2.2 15:37
SYDN Charlie Curnow goal 3.1.19 - 0.2.2 19:28
SYDN Caiden Cleary behind 3.2.20 - 0.2.2 20:46
SYDN Chad Warner goal 4.2.26 - 0.2.2 21:10
SYDN Joel Hamling behind 4.3.27 - 0.2.2 22:43
SYDN Charlie Curnow goal 5.3.33 - 0.2.2 29:55
WBUL Marcus Bontempelli behind 5.3.33 - 0.3.3 32:49
Q2 SYDN Charlie Curnow goal 6.3.39 - 0.3.3 02:56
WBUL Arthur Jones behind 6.3.39 - 0.4.4 05:51
WBUL Bailey Dale goal 6.3.39 - 1.4.10 07:07
WBUL Bailey Dale behind 6.3.39 - 1.5.11 12:25
SYDN Caiden Cleary goal 7.3.45 - 1.5.11 12:59
WBUL Marcus Bontempelli behind 7.3.45 - 1.6.12 16:28
WBUL Arthur Jones goal 7.3.45 - 2.6.18 18:08
WBUL Rushed behind 7.3.45 - 2.7.19 20:35
SYDN Hayden McLean goal 8.3.51 - 2.7.19 21:47
SYDN Brodie Grundy behind 8.4.52 - 2.7.19 28:48
WBUL Ryley Sanders goal 8.4.52 - 3.7.25 29:48
WBUL Aaron Naughton behind 8.4.52 - 3.8.26 31:22
SYDN Rushed behind 8.5.53 - 3.8.26 33:16
Q3 SYDN Charlie Curnow behind 8.6.54 - 3.8.26 00:59
WBUL Cody Weightman behind 8.6.54 - 3.9.27 02:50
WBUL Aaron Naughton goal 8.6.54 - 4.9.33 03:37
WBUL Arthur Jones behind 8.6.54 - 4.10.34 04:48
SYDN James Rowbottom behind 8.7.55 - 4.10.34 08:05
SYDN Rushed behind 8.8.56 - 4.10.34 13:37
SYDN Rushed behind 8.9.57 - 4.10.34 17:59
SYDN Corey Warner behind 8.10.58 - 4.10.34 18:36
SYDN Isaac Heeney goal 9.10.64 - 4.10.34 19:33
SYDN Hayden McLean goal 10.10.70 - 4.10.34 21:51
WBUL Jordan Croft goal 10.10.70 - 5.10.40 24:34
WBUL Jordan Croft goal 10.10.70 - 6.10.46 26:56
Q4 SYDN Charlie Curnow goal 11.10.76 - 6.10.46 01:05
WBUL Luke Kennedy behind 11.10.76 - 6.11.47 07:06
SYDN Rushed behind 11.11.77 - 6.11.47 08:16
SYDN Charlie Curnow goal 12.11.83 - 6.11.47 13:10
WBUL Arthur Jones goal 12.11.83 - 7.11.53 15:17
SYDN Rushed behind 12.12.84 - 7.11.53 19:14
WBUL Buku Khamis behind 12.12.84 - 7.12.54 21:48
WBUL Matthew Kennedy behind 12.12.84 - 7.13.55 22:49
SYDN Joel Hamling goal 13.12.90 - 7.13.55 26:49