2026 AFL Season Round 21: Melbourne v Geelong

This is the match report for the match played on 24 July 2026 between Melbourne and Geelong during round twenty-one of the 2026 season of the Australian Football League. Melbourne hosted Geelong at the MCG. Max Gawn captained the hosts. Patrick Dangerfield captained the visitors with Tom Stewart as vice-captain. The hosts were coached by Steven King and the visitors were coached by Chris Scott.

Melbourne (14.13.97) were defeated by Geelong (18.9.117).

Match Details

Season: 2026 AFL Season
Round: Round 21
Teams: Melbourne v Geelong
Date: Friday 24 July 2026
Time: 7:40 PM
Venue: MCG
Attendance: 49,292

Match Results

Outcome: Melbourne def. by Geelong
Score: 14.13.97 - 18.9.117

Quarter Breakdown

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
Melbourne 4 . 4 6 . 8 9 . 9 14 . 13 14 . 13 (97)
Geelong 3 . 0 10 . 4 12 . 9 18 . 9 18 . 9 (117)
Margin MELB by 10 GEEL by 20 GEEL by 18 GEEL by 20 GEEL by 20
Duration 30:12 33:11 30:43 33:10 2:07:16

Score Worm

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

Honour Roll

Melbourne

Captain: Max Gawn
Coach: Steven King

Geelong

Captain: Patrick Dangerfield
Vice-Captain: Tom Stewart
Coach: Chris Scott

Brownlow Votes

Player Team # Votes
Shannon Neale GEEL 33 3
Tom Stewart GEEL 44 2
Tom Atkins GEEL 30 1

AFLCA Champion Votes

Player Team # Votes 5 4 3 2 1

Player Statistics

Melbourne

# Player Pos. ToG% GL BH DI KI HB MK HO TA CL CR FF FA RF IF
17 Bowey, Jake BPL 90% 0 0 25 15 10 3 0 3 2 4 1 1 8 2
37 Chandler, Kade CHF 76% 0 2 14 7 7 2 0 2 1 1 0 0 2 4
46 Cooke, Lukas BPR 63% 0 1 9 5 4 4 0 2 0 1 1 1 4 0
41 Cross, Paddy HFFL 73% 0 0 9 4 5 4 0 3 0 1 0 0 1 2
47 Fitzgerald, Joel INT 58% 0 0 19 5 14 1 0 4 2 2 0 0 0 2
31 Fritsch, Bayley FPR 87% 3 1 14 11 3 3 0 1 0 2 2 0 1 4
11 Gawn, Max (c) RU 89% 0 0 19 9 10 4 47 2 5 3 2 2 0 3
22 Howes, Blake HBFR 82% 0 0 17 9 8 3 0 2 1 1 0 0 3 1
21 Jefferson, Matthew INT 68% 0 3 4 3 1 1 0 1 0 2 0 1 0 1
15 Langdon, Ed INT 83% 3 1 18 9 9 4 0 1 0 3 0 0 1 1
4 Langford, Harvey WR 81% 1 0 17 9 8 6 0 1 1 4 0 0 1 1
16 Laurie, Bailey INT 74% 1 1 15 10 5 5 0 2 1 1 0 0 0 0
8 Lever, Jake FB 100% 0 0 20 16 4 5 0 0 0 2 3 0 8 1
25 McDonald, Tom INT 77% 0 0 14 7 7 3 0 0 0 5 2 3 3 1
35 Petty, Harry CHB 83% 4 1 14 9 5 5 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 3
36 Pickett, Kysaiah RO 80% 1 0 14 9 5 2 0 5 6 5 1 0 0 1
33 Pickett, Latrelle FPL 48% 0 1 4 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
24 Rivers, Trent HBFL 76% 0 0 17 14 3 5 0 3 1 4 2 1 8 2
30 Sharp, Harry HFFR 90% 0 1 13 7 6 3 0 0 0 3 1 1 0 5
32 Sparrow, Tom C 84% 0 0 24 18 6 3 0 9 7 5 1 1 2 7
9 Steele, Jack RR 79% 0 0 30 11 19 3 0 5 5 3 1 0 2 2
12 Tholstrup, Koltyn WL 84% 1 0 22 8 14 4 0 1 2 3 1 0 0 1
2 van Rooyen, Jacob FF 77% 0 0 11 7 4 4 2 0 0 4 1 0 0 4
Rushed 1
Total (23 players) 14 13 363 204 159 78 49 49 35 59 19 11 44 51

Geelong

# Player Pos. ToG% GL BH DI KI HB MK HO TA CL CR FF FA RF IF
30 Atkins, Tom RR 80% 1 0 23 8 15 0 0 6 5 2 0 1 1 3
46 Blicavs, Mark WR 75% 0 1 13 7 6 4 6 3 4 4 0 2 1 3
4 Bruhn, Tanner HBFR 82% 0 0 27 14 13 7 0 3 2 0 0 0 5 0
13 Clark, Jhye BPR 80% 0 0 19 10 9 5 0 1 0 2 1 0 0 4
45 Close, Brad HFFR 81% 1 1 16 8 8 2 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 5
35 Dangerfield, Patrick (c) FPL 62% 0 0 12 4 8 2 0 2 0 2 0 0 0 2
28 Dempsey, Oliver WL 90% 0 0 15 11 4 7 0 1 2 2 0 1 2 3
11 Edwards, Mitch RU 62% 0 0 10 5 5 1 15 2 7 4 2 2 1 5
39 Guthrie, Zach HBFL 81% 0 0 21 16 5 11 0 0 1 2 1 1 2 0
38 Henry, Jack CHB 95% 0 0 12 10 2 9 0 2 1 0 0 0 2 1
36 Henry, Ollie INT 66% 4 0 9 6 3 4 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 2
17 Humphries, Lawson INT 80% 0 1 19 13 6 7 0 1 2 3 1 1 4 2
7 Mannagh, Shaun INT 74% 1 1 18 12 6 5 0 3 1 1 0 0 1 4
32 Miers, Gryan HFFL 85% 0 1 13 9 4 4 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 3
34 Mullin, Oisin RO 76% 0 0 10 3 7 4 0 1 1 2 0 1 0 2
33 Neale, Shannon FF 94% 5 2 13 8 5 6 0 2 0 4 2 4 0 0
42 O'Connor, Mark INT 77% 1 0 10 6 4 4 0 2 0 1 0 0 1 2
14 O'Sullivan, Connor FB 93% 0 0 21 11 10 8 1 1 0 1 0 0 4 2
2 Polkinghorne, Jay FPR 69% 2 1 11 9 2 6 0 1 0 3 0 1 0 4
3 Smith, Bailey C 80% 0 0 28 18 10 4 0 3 5 4 0 1 5 7
44 Stewart, Tom (vc) BPL 80% 0 0 25 17 8 6 0 2 0 1 1 1 4 2
21 Wiltshire, Oli CHF 72% 3 1 15 10 5 3 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 2
29 Worpel, James INT 66% 0 0 15 12 3 4 0 8 0 5 0 2 2 4
Rushed 0
Total (23 players) 18 9 375 227 148 113 22 46 35 47 11 19 36 62

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

Melbourne Coach: Steven King
BACK FOLLOWER INTERCHANGE
44 T. Stewart (vc) 14 C. O'Sullivan 13 J. Clark 11 M. Gawn (c) 47 J. Fitzgerald
31 B. Fritsch 2 J. van Rooyen 33 L. Pickett 9 J. Steele 21 M. Jefferson
FORWARD 36 K. Pickett 15 E. Langdon
HALF-BACK

16 B. Laurie
39 Z. Guthrie 38 J. Henry 4 T. Bruhn

25 T. McDonald
30 H. Sharp 37 K. Chandler 41 P. Cross



HALF-FORWARD



CENTRE



28 O. Dempsey 3 B. Smith 46 M. Blicavs



4 H. Langford 32 T. Sparrow 12 K. Tholstrup FOLLOWER INTERCHANGE
CENTRE 11 M. Edwards 36 O. Henry
HALF-FORWARD 30 T. Atkins 17 L. Humphries
32 G. Miers 21 O. Wiltshire 45 B. Close 34 O. Mullin 7 S. Mannagh
22 B. Howes 35 H. Petty 24 T. Rivers

42 M. O'Connor
HALF-BACK

29 J. Worpel
FORWARD



35 P. Dangerfield (c) 33 S. Neale 2 J. Polkinghorne



46 L. Cooke 8 J. Lever 17 J. Bowey



BACK



Geelong Coach: Chris Scott

Score Timeline

Quarter Team Scoring Event Score Time
Q1 MELB Kysaiah Pickett goal 1.0.6 - 0.0.0 02:09
MELB Harry Petty goal 2.0.12 - 0.0.0 03:20
GEEL Jay Polkinghorne goal 2.0.12 - 1.0.6 04:56
GEEL Shannon Neale goal 2.0.12 - 2.0.12 07:34
MELB Koltyn Tholstrup goal 3.0.18 - 2.0.12 09:38
MELB Kade Chandler behind 3.1.19 - 2.0.12 12:40
MELB Ed Langdon behind 3.2.20 - 2.0.12 14:25
MELB Bayley Fritsch goal 4.2.26 - 2.0.12 17:27
MELB Matthew Jefferson behind 4.3.27 - 2.0.12 23:37
GEEL Shannon Neale goal 4.3.27 - 3.0.18 26:50
MELB Latrelle Pickett behind 4.4.28 - 3.0.18 28:46
Q2 GEEL Brad Close behind 4.4.28 - 3.1.19 00:37
MELB Lukas Cooke behind 4.5.29 - 3.1.19 02:25
GEEL Shannon Neale goal 4.5.29 - 4.1.25 04:13
GEEL Tom Atkins goal 4.5.29 - 5.1.31 06:00
MELB Bayley Fritsch behind 4.6.30 - 5.1.31 10:11
MELB Bailey Laurie goal 5.6.36 - 5.1.31 11:17
MELB Kade Chandler behind 5.7.37 - 5.1.31 12:22
GEEL Brad Close goal 5.7.37 - 6.1.37 15:40
MELB Harry Petty goal 6.7.43 - 6.1.37 17:39
GEEL Shaun Mannagh goal 6.7.43 - 7.1.43 18:59
MELB Bailey Laurie behind 6.8.44 - 7.1.43 21:07
GEEL Oli Wiltshire behind 6.8.44 - 7.2.44 23:35
GEEL Shannon Neale goal 6.8.44 - 8.2.50 25:26
GEEL Jay Polkinghorne behind 6.8.44 - 8.3.51 26:50
GEEL Mark Blicavs behind 6.8.44 - 8.4.52 28:20
GEEL Ollie Henry goal 6.8.44 - 9.4.58 29:59
GEEL Oli Wiltshire goal 6.8.44 - 10.4.64 33:07
Q3 GEEL Shannon Neale behind 6.8.44 - 10.5.65 01:42
GEEL Gryan Miers behind 6.8.44 - 10.6.66 04:39
MELB Bayley Fritsch goal 7.8.50 - 10.6.66 05:29
MELB Rushed behind 7.9.51 - 10.6.66 12:20
MELB Harvey Langford goal 8.9.57 - 10.6.66 13:23
GEEL Ollie Henry goal 8.9.57 - 11.6.72 15:24
GEEL Shannon Neale behind 8.9.57 - 11.7.73 16:34
GEEL Shaun Mannagh behind 8.9.57 - 11.8.74 19:30
GEEL Lawson Humphries behind 8.9.57 - 11.9.75 19:52
MELB Bayley Fritsch goal 9.9.63 - 11.9.75 23:21
GEEL Jay Polkinghorne goal 9.9.63 - 12.9.81 28:41
Q4 MELB Ed Langdon goal 10.9.69 - 12.9.81 01:00
MELB Harry Sharp behind 10.10.70 - 12.9.81 03:16
GEEL Oli Wiltshire goal 10.10.70 - 13.9.87 06:35
MELB Harry Petty goal 11.10.76 - 13.9.87 08:42
GEEL Ollie Henry goal 11.10.76 - 14.9.93 11:46
MELB Matthew Jefferson behind 11.11.77 - 14.9.93 13:34
GEEL Mark O'Connor goal 11.11.77 - 15.9.99 16:23
MELB Matthew Jefferson behind 11.12.78 - 15.9.99 18:10
MELB Harry Petty goal 12.12.84 - 15.9.99 18:45
GEEL Oli Wiltshire goal 12.12.84 - 16.9.105 20:38
GEEL Shannon Neale goal 12.12.84 - 17.9.111 22:41
GEEL Ollie Henry goal 12.12.84 - 18.9.117 23:51
MELB Harry Petty behind 12.13.85 - 18.9.117 27:47
MELB Ed Langdon goal 13.13.91 - 18.9.117 29:00
MELB Ed Langdon goal 14.13.97 - 18.9.117 30:45