2026 AFL Season Round 22: Essendon v Adelaide

This is the match report for the match played on 2 August 2026 between Essendon and Adelaide during round twenty-two of the 2026 season of the Australian Football League. Essendon hosted Adelaide at Marvel Stadium. Andrew McGrath captained the hosts. Jordan Dawson captained the visitors. The hosts were coached by Dean Solomon and the visitors were coached by Matthew Nicks.

Essendon (11.7.73) were defeated by Adelaide (23.7.145).

Match Details

Season: 2026 AFL Season
Round: Round 22
Teams: Essendon v Adelaide
Date: Sunday 2 August 2026
Time: 4:40 PM
Venue: Marvel Stadium
Attendance: 20,518

Match Results

Outcome: Essendon def. by Adelaide
Score: 11.7.73 - 23.7.145

Quarter Breakdown

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
Essendon 3 . 1 5 . 3 7 . 5 11 . 7 11 . 7 (73)
Adelaide 7 . 2 10 . 6 15 . 7 23 . 7 23 . 7 (145)
Margin ADEL by 25 ADEL by 33 ADEL by 50 ADEL by 72 ADEL by 72
Duration 34:36 29:30 28:36 33:14 2:05:56

Score Worm

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

Honour Roll

Essendon

Captain: Andrew McGrath
Coach: Dean Solomon (caretaker)

Adelaide

Captain: Jordan Dawson
Coach: Matthew Nicks

Brownlow Votes

Player Team # Votes
Jordan Dawson ADEL 12 3
Izak Rankine ADEL 23 2
Riley Thilthorpe ADEL 7 1

AFLCA Champion Votes

Player Team # Votes 5 4 3 2 1

Player Statistics

Essendon

# Player Pos. ToG% GL BH DI KI HB MK HO TA CL CR FF FA RF IF
34 Artemis, Jaxon WR 74% 0 1 20 9 11 7 0 3 0 2 1 0 4 1
24 Bryan, Nick RU 78% 0 0 8 3 5 0 21 2 5 1 0 1 0 2
30 Caddy, Nate CHF 93% 1 3 8 6 2 2 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 2
36 Clarke, Angus WL 32% 1 0 3 2 1 1 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 1
44 Day-Wicks, Archer HFFR 79% 0 0 10 3 7 4 0 7 0 2 0 1 0 1
22 Durham, Sam C 83% 0 0 24 11 13 4 0 6 4 4 1 2 1 5
33 El Achkar, Hussien INT 77% 2 0 13 6 7 1 0 1 4 1 1 1 0 4
2 Farrow, Jacob FPR 77% 0 0 16 10 6 7 0 0 2 3 0 0 3 3
40 Johnson, Zak BPR 77% 0 0 15 8 7 5 0 0 0 3 0 1 1 3
23 Jones, Harry INT 84% 1 0 8 5 3 1 0 5 0 2 1 1 1 0
10 Kako, Isaac FPL 84% 0 1 7 6 1 6 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3
29 Kondogiannis, Max INT 75% 0 0 9 5 4 2 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 2
4 Langford, Kyle HFFL 76% 0 0 19 10 9 6 0 1 0 2 0 1 4 0
1 McGrath, Andrew (c) BPL 82% 0 0 21 11 10 5 0 3 0 2 1 0 4 2
7 Merrett, Zach RR 85% 0 0 28 12 16 5 0 2 6 4 2 2 2 5
25 Prior, Jaxon HBFL 81% 0 0 11 8 3 0 0 2 0 1 2 0 3 1
27 Redman, Mason HBFR 81% 0 1 19 15 4 4 0 2 4 2 3 1 2 2
31 Reid, Zach FB 83% 0 0 11 9 2 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
21 Roberts, Archie CHB 88% 0 0 26 11 15 5 0 1 0 2 0 2 4 0
12 Setterfield, Will INT 81% 0 0 28 14 14 3 0 8 1 5 2 3 3 3
15 Sharp, Dyson RO 74% 0 0 22 15 7 2 0 6 7 1 2 0 1 5
38 Unwin, Rhys INT 62% 0 0 7 3 4 2 0 2 0 1 1 1 0 2
20 Wright, Peter FF 94% 6 1 17 12 5 6 8 0 0 3 4 1 0 2
Rushed 0
Total (23 players) 11 7 350 194 156 84 29 55 33 44 24 19 35 49

Adelaide

# Player Pos. ToG% GL BH DI KI HB MK HO TA CL CR FF FA RF IF
4 Ah Chee, Callum WL 64% 2 0 15 9 6 5 0 2 0 2 1 1 2 3
35 Borlase, James FB 51% 0 0 10 5 5 4 0 1 0 2 0 1 2 0
15 Cook, Brayden WR 85% 0 0 11 7 4 2 0 1 2 2 0 0 5 1
44 Cumming, Isaac HBFL 79% 0 0 17 8 9 3 0 2 0 2 0 1 4 2
6 Curtin, Dan INT 68% 0 1 18 10 8 5 0 4 5 0 0 0 3 6
12 Dawson, Jordan (c) C 80% 0 0 30 18 12 4 0 3 9 3 3 3 2 4
31 Dowling, Billy INT 83% 3 2 18 13 5 11 0 2 2 1 0 1 1 2
40 Hall-Kahan, Hugo FPL 85% 1 0 18 14 4 5 0 2 2 4 0 1 1 7
48 Keane, Mark CHB 92% 0 0 15 9 6 6 0 0 0 7 1 5 4 0
2 Keays, Ben FPR 88% 3 0 10 5 5 2 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1
34 Ludowyke, Archie INT 66% 1 0 9 6 3 5 0 1 0 2 1 0 0 1
42 McAndrew, Lachlan RU 78% 0 1 12 6 6 1 38 3 5 1 2 0 0 0
16 Michalanney, Max BPR 84% 0 0 13 7 6 4 0 3 0 3 0 2 2 1
27 Nankervis, Luke HBFR 82% 0 0 15 9 6 3 0 3 0 2 0 1 3 0
28 Neal-Bullen, Alex HFFL 82% 0 0 19 9 10 3 0 1 0 0 2 0 1 4
8 Rachele, Josh HFFR 82% 2 0 11 7 4 4 0 2 2 3 1 0 0 3
23 Rankine, Izak RR 83% 3 0 23 18 5 7 0 5 4 3 1 1 3 9
22 Ryan, Oscar INT 75% 1 0 19 11 8 3 0 3 1 1 2 1 1 3
14 Soligo, Jake RO 64% 0 0 19 13 6 5 0 7 4 8 2 3 2 4
19 Taylor, Zac INT 75% 0 0 11 4 7 2 0 4 1 0 1 0 0 3
7 Thilthorpe, Riley CHF 81% 5 2 15 13 2 10 9 4 1 2 0 1 1 2
13 Walker, Taylor FF 84% 2 1 7 7 0 5 0 1 0 4 1 1 0 2
24 Worrell, Josh BPL 89% 0 0 14 7 7 5 0 2 1 0 1 0 0 0
Rushed 0
Total (23 players) 23 7 349 215 134 104 47 57 39 53 19 24 37 58

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

Essendon Coach: Dean Solomon
BACK FOLLOWER INTERCHANGE
24 J. Worrell 35 J. Borlase 16 M. Michalanney 24 N. Bryan 33 H. El Achkar
2 J. Farrow 20 P. Wright 10 I. Kako 7 Z. Merrett 23 H. Jones
FORWARD 15 D. Sharp 29 M. Kondogiannis
HALF-BACK

12 W. Setterfield
44 I. Cumming 48 M. Keane 27 L. Nankervis

38 R. Unwin
44 A. Day-Wicks 30 N. Caddy 4 K. Langford



HALF-FORWARD



CENTRE



4 C. Ah Chee 12 J. Dawson (c) 15 B. Cook



34 J. Artemis 22 S. Durham 36 A. Clarke FOLLOWER INTERCHANGE
CENTRE 42 L. McAndrew 6 D. Curtin
HALF-FORWARD 23 I. Rankine 31 B. Dowling
28 A. Neal-Bullen 7 R. Thilthorpe 8 J. Rachele 14 J. Soligo 34 A. Ludowyke
27 M. Redman 21 A. Roberts 25 J. Prior

22 O. Ryan
HALF-BACK

19 Z. Taylor
FORWARD



40 H. Hall-Kahan 13 T. Walker 2 B. Keays



40 Z. Johnson 31 Z. Reid 1 A. McGrath (c)



BACK



Adelaide Coach: Matthew Nicks

Score Timeline

Quarter Team Scoring Event Score Time
Q1 ESSE Angus Clarke goal 1.0.6 - 0.0.0 01:36
ESSE Peter Wright goal 2.0.12 - 0.0.0 04:34
ADEL Riley Thilthorpe goal 2.0.12 - 1.0.6 06:12
ADEL Riley Thilthorpe goal 2.0.12 - 2.0.12 10:35
ESSE Jaxon Artemis behind 2.1.13 - 2.0.12 13:19
ESSE Hussien El Achkar goal 3.1.19 - 2.0.12 15:06
ADEL Billy Dowling behind 3.1.19 - 2.1.13 17:29
ADEL Billy Dowling goal 3.1.19 - 3.1.19 20:58
ADEL Billy Dowling behind 3.1.19 - 3.2.20 26:03
ADEL Taylor Walker goal 3.1.19 - 4.2.26 27:36
ADEL Callum Ah Chee goal 3.1.19 - 5.2.32 29:12
ADEL Izak Rankine goal 3.1.19 - 6.2.38 32:47
ADEL Riley Thilthorpe goal 3.1.19 - 7.2.44 34:33
Q2 ADEL Riley Thilthorpe behind 3.1.19 - 7.3.45 01:57
ESSE Peter Wright goal 4.1.25 - 7.3.45 04:23
ADEL Lachlan McAndrew behind 4.1.25 - 7.4.46 06:31
ADEL Riley Thilthorpe behind 4.1.25 - 7.5.47 08:54
ADEL Izak Rankine goal 4.1.25 - 8.5.53 10:00
ADEL Josh Rachele goal 4.1.25 - 9.5.59 11:52
ADEL Dan Curtin behind 4.1.25 - 9.6.60 19:12
ESSE Peter Wright goal 5.1.31 - 9.6.60 20:41
ESSE Isaac Kako behind 5.2.32 - 9.6.60 22:14
ADEL Taylor Walker goal 5.2.32 - 10.6.66 23:23
ESSE Mason Redman behind 5.3.33 - 10.6.66 25:04
Q3 ADEL Riley Thilthorpe goal 5.3.33 - 11.6.72 01:28
ADEL Taylor Walker behind 5.3.33 - 11.7.73 03:07
ESSE Nate Caddy behind 5.4.34 - 11.7.73 05:03
ESSE Nate Caddy behind 5.5.35 - 11.7.73 07:18
ESSE Hussien El Achkar goal 6.5.41 - 11.7.73 08:30
ADEL Ben Keays goal 6.5.41 - 12.7.79 13:39
ADEL Hugo Hall-Kahan goal 6.5.41 - 13.7.85 18:11
ADEL Callum Ah Chee goal 6.5.41 - 14.7.91 23:01
ADEL Oscar Ryan goal 6.5.41 - 15.7.97 24:35
ESSE Harry Jones goal 7.5.47 - 15.7.97 26:57
Q4 ADEL Ben Keays goal 7.5.47 - 16.7.103 01:52
ESSE Peter Wright goal 8.5.53 - 16.7.103 04:38
ESSE Peter Wright goal 9.5.59 - 16.7.103 06:19
ESSE Nate Caddy behind 9.6.60 - 16.7.103 08:46
ADEL Josh Rachele goal 9.6.60 - 17.7.109 12:17
ADEL Izak Rankine goal 9.6.60 - 18.7.115 14:35
ESSE Peter Wright behind 9.7.61 - 18.7.115 16:43
ADEL Archie Ludowyke goal 9.7.61 - 19.7.121 19:45
ESSE Peter Wright goal 10.7.67 - 19.7.121 21:39
ADEL Billy Dowling goal 10.7.67 - 20.7.127 26:17
ADEL Billy Dowling goal 10.7.67 - 21.7.133 27:24
ADEL Riley Thilthorpe goal 10.7.67 - 22.7.139 29:40
ESSE Nate Caddy goal 11.7.73 - 22.7.139 31:17
ADEL Ben Keays goal 11.7.73 - 23.7.145 33:11