2026 AFL Season Round 23: Western Bulldogs v North Melbourne

This is the match report for the match played on 6 August 2026 between the Western Bulldogs and North Melbourne during round twenty-three of the 2026 season of the Australian Football League. The Western Bulldogs hosted North Melbourne at Marvel Stadium. Marcus Bontempelli captained the hosts. Nick Larkey captained the visitors with Harry Sheezel as vice-captain. The hosts were coached by Luke Beveridge and the visitors were coached by Alastair Clarkson.

The Western Bulldogs (11.11.77) were defeated by North Melbourne (15.10.100).

Match Details

Season: 2026 AFL Season
Round: Round 23
Teams: Western Bulldogs v North Melbourne
Date: Thursday 6 August 2026
Time: 7:30 PM
Venue: Marvel Stadium
Attendance: 25,052

Match Results

Outcome: Western Bulldogs def. by North Melbourne
Score: 11.11.77 - 15.10.100

Quarter Breakdown

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
Western Bulldogs 2 . 3 5 . 6 10 . 9 11 . 11 11 . 11 (77)
North Melbourne 6 . 0 10 . 2 12 . 7 15 . 10 15 . 10 (100)
Margin NMLB by 21 NMLB by 26 NMLB by 10 NMLB by 23 NMLB by 23
Duration 30:33 31:02 29:43 29:56 2:01:14

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 (North Melbourne) are in the lead.

Honour Roll

Western Bulldogs

Captain: Marcus Bontempelli
Coach: Luke Beveridge

North Melbourne

Captain: Nick Larkey
Vice-Captain: Harry Sheezel
Coach: Alastair Clarkson

Brownlow Votes

Player Team # Votes
Luke Davies-Uniacke NMLB 9 3
Harry Sheezel NMLB 3 2
Paul Curtis NMLB 25 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
4 Bontempelli, Marcus (c) C 86% 1 2 25 12 13 4 0 4 2 2 1 0 1 5
29 Bramble, Lachie HBFL 86% 0 0 21 14 7 2 0 2 3 0 1 0 1 7
17 Coffield, Nick BPR 88% 0 0 14 11 3 2 0 1 0 3 0 2 5 0
16 Croft, Jordan FPR 74% 0 1 14 4 10 3 6 2 0 1 3 0 1 2
42 Davidson, Sam INT 70% 1 1 16 8 8 2 0 5 3 2 1 0 2 3
26 Dolan, Josh INT 74% 0 0 14 8 6 2 0 1 0 3 2 0 0 4
44 English, Tim RU 68% 0 0 12 5 7 2 13 2 1 1 1 1 0 3
27 Freijah, Joel WL 83% 1 0 17 6 11 3 0 6 4 2 0 2 2 2
6 Hynes, Cooper WR 78% 1 0 15 12 3 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 5
11 Jaques, Lachie INT 73% 0 0 14 9 5 6 0 1 0 2 0 1 4 3
32 Jones, Arthur HFFR 73% 0 0 9 6 3 2 0 3 1 1 1 0 0 3
8 Kennedy, Matthew INT 58% 2 1 13 6 7 4 0 3 1 1 1 1 0 2
24 Khamis, Buku FB 93% 1 0 12 7 5 5 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 1
21 Liberatore, Tom RR 64% 1 1 15 7 8 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 3
7 Lobb, Rory CHF 96% 0 0 7 3 4 2 6 5 0 2 0 2 0 1
33 Naughton, Aaron FF 89% 2 0 10 7 3 5 0 2 0 2 1 0 0 1
18 O'Donnell, James CHB 94% 0 0 15 8 7 4 0 2 0 3 2 1 4 0
20 Richards, Ed RO 81% 1 0 28 17 11 4 0 5 6 2 0 1 5 7
9 Sanders, Ryley INT 76% 0 0 17 6 11 2 0 5 3 0 2 0 1 1
37 Sellwood, Michael BPL 80% 0 0 10 6 4 3 0 3 0 1 1 1 1 3
3 Weightman, Cody HFFL 68% 0 0 11 4 7 3 0 2 0 0 1 0 1 1
14 West, Rhylee FPL 69% 0 0 20 9 11 4 0 5 4 3 2 2 1 2
34 Williams, Bailey HBFR 79% 0 0 22 10 12 2 0 0 3 1 1 1 2 0
Rushed 5
Total (23 players) 11 11 351 185 166 67 25 61 33 36 21 17 33 59

North Melbourne

# Player Pos. ToG% GL BH DI KI HB MK HO TA CL CR FF FA RF IF
45 Banch, Zac INT 76% 2 1 16 11 5 8 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 3
39 Blamires, Tom INT 84% 0 2 15 7 8 1 0 3 1 3 0 1 4 1
30 Comben, Charlie FB 90% 0 0 11 7 4 3 0 4 0 0 0 0 3 0
4 Corr, Aidan BPL 37% 0 0 7 4 3 4 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
25 Curtis, Paul FPR 79% 4 0 19 12 7 4 0 4 1 4 1 0 0 5
5 Daniel, Caleb CHB 77% 0 0 33 18 15 6 0 1 1 2 1 1 5 3
27 Darling, Jack RR 80% 2 1 16 11 5 9 0 1 0 3 1 0 0 1
9 Davies-Uniacke, Luke C 83% 2 0 31 17 14 3 0 10 10 4 2 1 3 6
18 Dawson, Wil INT 60% 0 1 8 5 3 2 10 6 2 1 2 1 0 0
17 Hardeman, Riley HBFL 81% 0 0 10 7 3 4 0 2 0 1 0 1 1 4
20 Larkey, Nick (c) FF 85% 0 0 10 5 5 4 0 3 0 1 1 1 0 1
19 Logue, Griffin BPR 88% 0 0 17 8 9 7 0 1 0 2 1 1 3 0
10 McKercher, Colby HBFR 80% 0 0 30 21 9 3 0 0 1 4 0 1 1 2
2 O'Sullivan, Finn WL 80% 0 0 16 10 6 3 0 3 3 5 1 1 0 3
26 Parker, Luke INT 81% 1 0 26 17 9 8 0 2 1 2 0 1 8 1
3 Sheezel, Harry (vc) RO 91% 0 1 29 13 16 7 0 6 1 3 0 1 0 4
12 Simpkin, Jy HFFR 83% 1 1 17 8 9 4 0 1 3 4 0 2 0 4
13 Spargo, Charlie HFFL 73% 1 0 18 7 11 4 0 3 0 2 1 0 1 3
15 Stephens, Dylan WR 89% 0 0 28 18 10 6 0 4 4 2 3 1 8 2
47 Trembath, Cooper CHF 84% 0 0 6 6 0 6 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 3
6 Wardlaw, George INT 57% 1 0 19 13 6 2 0 4 6 2 1 1 4 1
38 Xerri, Tristan RU 78% 1 0 17 5 12 1 32 4 7 4 1 2 2 0
44 Zurhaar, Cameron FPL 83% 0 0 19 10 9 10 0 1 1 4 0 2 4 2
Rushed 3
Total (23 players) 15 10 418 240 178 109 43 64 42 56 17 21 47 49

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
4 A. Corr 30 C. Comben 19 G. Logue 44 T. English 42 S. Davidson
16 J. Croft 33 A. Naughton 14 R. West 21 T. Liberatore 26 J. Dolan
FORWARD 20 E. Richards 11 L. Jaques
HALF-BACK

8 M. Kennedy
17 R. Hardeman 5 C. Daniel 10 C. McKercher

9 R. Sanders
32 A. Jones 7 R. Lobb 3 C. Weightman



HALF-FORWARD



CENTRE



2 F. O'Sullivan 9 L. Davies-Uniacke 15 D. Stephens



6 C. Hynes 4 M. Bontempelli (c) 27 J. Freijah FOLLOWER INTERCHANGE
CENTRE 38 T. Xerri 45 Z. Banch
HALF-FORWARD 27 J. Darling 39 T. Blamires
13 C. Spargo 47 C. Trembath 12 J. Simpkin 3 H. Sheezel (vc) 18 W. Dawson
34 B. Williams 18 J. O'Donnell 29 L. Bramble

26 L. Parker
HALF-BACK

6 G. Wardlaw
FORWARD



44 C. Zurhaar 20 N. Larkey (c) 25 P. Curtis



17 N. Coffield 24 B. Khamis 37 M. Sellwood



BACK



North Melbourne Coach: Alastair Clarkson

Score Timeline

Quarter Team Scoring Event Score Time
Q1 NMLB Paul Curtis goal 0.0.0 - 1.0.6 05:53
WBUL Rushed behind 0.1.1 - 1.0.6 07:30
NMLB Paul Curtis goal 0.1.1 - 2.0.12 08:20
WBUL Matthew Kennedy goal 1.1.7 - 2.0.12 09:59
NMLB Jy Simpkin goal 1.1.7 - 3.0.18 12:41
NMLB George Wardlaw goal 1.1.7 - 4.0.24 16:11
NMLB Jack Darling goal 1.1.7 - 5.0.30 18:19
WBUL Jordan Croft behind 1.2.8 - 5.0.30 21:01
WBUL Marcus Bontempelli behind 1.3.9 - 5.0.30 22:16
NMLB Charlie Spargo goal 1.3.9 - 6.0.36 27:46
WBUL Cooper Hynes goal 2.3.15 - 6.0.36 29:22
Q2 NMLB Tristan Xerri goal 2.3.15 - 7.0.42 01:31
WBUL Aaron Naughton goal 3.3.21 - 7.0.42 03:28
WBUL Tom Liberatore behind 3.4.22 - 7.0.42 04:55
WBUL Marcus Bontempelli goal 4.4.28 - 7.0.42 05:19
NMLB Jy Simpkin behind 4.4.28 - 7.1.43 07:05
WBUL Joel Freijah goal 5.4.34 - 7.1.43 08:10
NMLB Wil Dawson behind 5.4.34 - 7.2.44 12:55
WBUL Sam Davidson behind 5.5.35 - 7.2.44 17:40
NMLB Zac Banch goal 5.5.35 - 8.2.50 21:48
WBUL Rushed behind 5.6.36 - 8.2.50 23:10
NMLB Paul Curtis goal 5.6.36 - 9.2.56 25:42
NMLB Luke Davies-Uniacke goal 5.6.36 - 10.2.62 26:54
Q3 NMLB Zac Banch behind 5.6.36 - 10.3.63 01:43
NMLB Rushed behind 5.6.36 - 10.4.64 03:09
WBUL Marcus Bontempelli behind 5.7.37 - 10.4.64 04:15
WBUL Buku Khamis goal 6.7.43 - 10.4.64 05:37
WBUL Rushed behind 6.8.44 - 10.4.64 08:01
NMLB Jack Darling behind 6.8.44 - 10.5.65 09:27
NMLB Jack Darling goal 6.8.44 - 11.5.71 11:32
NMLB Rushed behind 6.8.44 - 11.6.72 13:22
WBUL Ed Richards goal 7.8.50 - 11.6.72 15:46
WBUL Tom Liberatore goal 8.8.56 - 11.6.72 17:10
WBUL Matthew Kennedy behind 8.9.57 - 11.6.72 19:57
NMLB Tom Blamires behind 8.9.57 - 11.7.73 21:52
WBUL Aaron Naughton goal 9.9.63 - 11.7.73 23:10
WBUL Matthew Kennedy goal 10.9.69 - 11.7.73 26:18
NMLB Paul Curtis goal 10.9.69 - 12.7.79 29:39
Q4 WBUL Sam Davidson goal 11.9.75 - 12.7.79 01:09
NMLB Rushed behind 11.9.75 - 12.8.80 05:55
NMLB Harry Sheezel behind 11.9.75 - 12.9.81 10:17
NMLB Luke Davies-Uniacke goal 11.9.75 - 13.9.87 14:25
NMLB Tom Blamires behind 11.9.75 - 13.10.88 20:18
WBUL Rushed behind 11.10.76 - 13.10.88 21:36
NMLB Zac Banch goal 11.10.76 - 14.10.94 23:29
WBUL Rushed behind 11.11.77 - 14.10.94 26:38
NMLB Luke Parker goal 11.11.77 - 15.10.100 29:54