2026 AFL Season Round 24: Essendon v Sydney

This is the match report for the match played on 16 August 2026 between Essendon and Sydney during round twenty-four of the 2026 season of the Australian Football League. Essendon hosted Sydney at the MCG. Andrew McGrath captained the hosts. Callum Mills captained the visitors with Isaac Heeney as vice-captain. The hosts were coached by Dean Solomon and the visitors were coached by Dean Cox.

Essendon (11.10.76) were defeated by Sydney (17.10.112).

Match Details

Season: 2026 AFL Season
Round: Round 24
Teams: Essendon v Sydney
Date: Sunday 16 August 2026
Time: 4:40 PM
Venue: MCG
Attendance: 24,767

Match Results

Outcome: Essendon def. by Sydney
Score: 11.10.76 - 17.10.112

Quarter Breakdown

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
Essendon 3 . 0 7 . 4 9 . 7 11 . 10 11 . 10 (76)
Sydney 9 . 1 11 . 4 13 . 9 17 . 10 17 . 10 (112)
Margin SYDN by 37 SYDN by 24 SYDN by 26 SYDN by 36 SYDN by 36
Duration 34:08 31:57 30:20 29:33 2:05:58

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 (Sydney) are in the lead.

Honour Roll

Essendon

Captain: Andrew McGrath
Coach: Dean Solomon (caretaker)

Sydney

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

Brownlow Votes

Player Team # Votes
Errol Gulden SYDN 21 3
Isaac Heeney SYDN 5 2
Chad Warner SYDN 1 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 HBFR 78% 0 0 9 1 8 1 0 6 0 0 0 0 2 0
24 Bryan, Nick INT 60% 0 0 19 10 9 2 17 3 6 3 2 2 1 4
30 Caddy, Nate CHF 89% 3 1 11 8 3 5 0 0 0 4 1 1 0 3
6 Caldwell, Jye INT 65% 0 2 28 11 17 4 0 4 4 1 1 1 2 2
36 Clarke, Angus WR 89% 0 1 8 6 2 2 0 2 0 4 0 0 0 0
44 Day-Wicks, Archer HFFR 76% 1 0 10 5 5 2 0 5 0 3 0 0 1 2
2 Farrow, Jacob HFFL 79% 0 1 15 9 6 5 0 2 1 0 1 0 1 3
23 Jones, Harry INT 76% 0 0 8 5 3 3 0 1 0 2 1 2 0 0
10 Kako, Isaac INT 78% 0 1 18 6 12 1 0 2 1 1 0 0 0 4
29 Kondogiannis, Max INT 72% 0 0 11 5 6 1 0 6 2 1 0 1 1 3
4 Langford, Kyle FPR 80% 0 0 13 6 7 4 0 0 0 1 1 0 2 1
1 McGrath, Andrew (c) BPL 80% 0 0 19 9 10 6 0 3 0 1 0 1 3 2
7 Merrett, Zach RR 78% 0 0 24 8 16 2 0 2 5 1 1 0 0 4
16 Perkins, Archie WL 79% 1 0 9 7 2 7 0 1 0 2 0 1 0 0
25 Prior, Jaxon HBFL 69% 1 0 16 16 0 9 0 5 1 2 2 0 2 2
27 Redman, Mason BPR 87% 0 0 20 16 4 4 0 3 0 0 1 0 3 2
31 Reid, Zach FB 93% 0 0 20 15 5 9 0 3 0 1 3 0 4 3
21 Roberts, Archie CHB 85% 0 0 28 23 5 7 0 2 0 4 0 1 10 0
12 Setterfield, Will C 75% 1 0 32 20 12 5 0 5 8 6 1 1 1 8
15 Sharp, Dyson RO 78% 0 1 22 12 10 3 0 7 4 2 1 0 0 3
38 Unwin, Rhys FPL 74% 1 1 12 6 6 2 0 7 0 1 2 0 1 1
17 Visentini, Vigo RU 68% 1 0 19 13 6 9 14 6 1 6 4 2 1 2
20 Wright, Peter FF 91% 2 1 9 6 3 3 0 1 0 4 2 1 0 1
Rushed 1
Total (23 players) 11 10 380 223 157 96 31 76 33 50 24 14 35 50

Sydney

# Player Pos. ToG% GL BH DI KI HB MK HO TA CL CR FF FA RF IF
26 Bice, Riley INT 72% 0 0 10 7 3 2 0 5 0 3 0 0 2 1
22 Blakey, Nick HBFL 90% 0 0 29 17 12 2 0 2 1 4 0 0 2 4
16 Campbell, Braeden HFFR 80% 0 0 14 9 5 0 0 3 3 1 1 1 0 3
25 Cootee, Billy INT 70% 1 0 9 3 6 2 0 3 0 4 0 2 0 1
35 Curnow, Charlie FF 83% 4 1 9 8 1 2 0 0 0 4 1 3 0 0
9 Dattoli, Jesse INT 68% 1 1 12 6 6 3 0 3 0 2 0 1 0 2
45 Green, Will INT 57% 0 1 6 3 3 3 11 1 1 1 0 1 0 2
4 Grundy, Brodie RU 69% 0 0 25 12 13 5 22 1 9 5 4 2 2 5
21 Gulden, Errol C 77% 0 0 47 30 17 3 0 4 8 5 1 1 8 6
29 Hamling, Joel HBFR 85% 0 0 11 3 8 4 0 2 0 0 1 0 1 0
5 Heeney, Isaac (vc) RR 88% 3 2 29 14 15 9 0 7 7 5 1 2 2 6
17 Jordon, James FPR 84% 0 0 14 3 11 1 0 4 1 0 0 0 1 1
32 Kyle, Harry CHB 63% 0 0 10 3 7 1 0 1 0 2 0 0 2 2
44 Lloyd, Jake HFFL 88% 2 0 21 12 9 7 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 3
30 McCartin, Tom FB 95% 0 0 18 7 11 4 0 1 0 4 0 2 6 0
6 McDonald, Logan CHF 88% 2 2 15 9 6 7 0 0 0 3 1 2 1 0
14 Mills, Callum (c) BPL 73% 0 0 23 12 11 2 0 1 1 6 1 1 4 3
11 Papley, Tom FPL 71% 0 0 10 2 8 0 0 4 0 2 1 2 0 3
24 Rampe, Dane BPR 79% 0 0 15 2 13 3 0 4 0 3 1 1 3 0
34 Roberts, Matt WL 77% 0 0 19 9 10 3 0 4 1 2 0 0 2 3
13 Serong, Jai WR 83% 1 0 15 8 7 4 0 0 2 2 0 1 1 4
1 Warner, Chad RO 76% 3 0 23 13 10 4 0 5 5 4 0 1 2 5
15 Wicks, Sam INT 85% 0 0 15 7 8 2 0 5 0 5 1 1 0 0
Rushed 3
Total (23 players) 17 10 399 199 200 73 33 61 40 67 14 24 39 54

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
14 C. Mills (c) 30 T. McCartin 24 D. Rampe 17 V. Visentini 24 N. Bryan
4 K. Langford 20 P. Wright 38 R. Unwin 7 Z. Merrett 6 J. Caldwell
FORWARD 15 D. Sharp 23 H. Jones
HALF-BACK

10 I. Kako
22 N. Blakey 32 H. Kyle 29 J. Hamling

29 M. Kondogiannis
44 A. Day-Wicks 30 N. Caddy 2 J. Farrow



HALF-FORWARD



CENTRE



34 M. Roberts 21 E. Gulden 13 J. Serong



36 A. Clarke 12 W. Setterfield 16 A. Perkins FOLLOWER INTERCHANGE
CENTRE 4 B. Grundy 26 R. Bice
HALF-FORWARD 5 I. Heeney (vc) 25 B. Cootee
44 J. Lloyd 6 L. McDonald 16 B. Campbell 1 C. Warner 9 J. Dattoli
34 J. Artemis 21 A. Roberts 25 J. Prior

45 W. Green
HALF-BACK

15 S. Wicks
FORWARD



11 T. Papley 35 C. Curnow 17 J. Jordon



27 M. Redman 31 Z. Reid 1 A. McGrath (c)



BACK



Sydney Coach: Dean Cox

Score Timeline

Quarter Team Scoring Event Score Time
Q1 SYDN Charlie Curnow goal 0.0.0 - 1.0.6 01:59
SYDN Charlie Curnow goal 0.0.0 - 2.0.12 04:56
ESSE Jaxon Prior goal 1.0.6 - 2.0.12 07:03
SYDN Charlie Curnow goal 1.0.6 - 3.0.18 08:20
ESSE Archie Perkins goal 2.0.12 - 3.0.18 10:24
SYDN Jake Lloyd goal 2.0.12 - 4.0.24 15:12
SYDN Chad Warner goal 2.0.12 - 5.0.30 17:04
SYDN Jesse Dattoli goal 2.0.12 - 6.0.36 20:07
SYDN Chad Warner goal 2.0.12 - 7.0.42 21:57
SYDN Logan McDonald behind 2.0.12 - 7.1.43 24:03
SYDN Chad Warner goal 2.0.12 - 8.1.49 27:22
ESSE Peter Wright goal 3.0.18 - 8.1.49 29:06
SYDN Logan McDonald goal 3.0.18 - 9.1.55 32:44
Q2 SYDN Jesse Dattoli behind 3.0.18 - 9.2.56 00:44
SYDN Billy Cootee goal 3.0.18 - 10.2.62 02:55
ESSE Angus Clarke behind 3.1.19 - 10.2.62 05:34
ESSE Nate Caddy goal 4.1.25 - 10.2.62 08:03
SYDN Isaac Heeney behind 4.1.25 - 10.3.63 09:53
ESSE Peter Wright goal 5.1.31 - 10.3.63 11:07
SYDN Charlie Curnow behind 5.1.31 - 10.4.64 14:40
ESSE Rhys Unwin goal 6.1.37 - 10.4.64 16:30
SYDN Isaac Heeney goal 6.1.37 - 11.4.70 18:15
ESSE Jye Caldwell behind 6.2.38 - 11.4.70 25:18
ESSE Nate Caddy goal 7.2.44 - 11.4.70 27:46
ESSE Rhys Unwin behind 7.3.45 - 11.4.70 29:43
ESSE Nate Caddy behind 7.4.46 - 11.4.70 30:21
Q3 SYDN Logan McDonald behind 7.4.46 - 11.5.71 02:02
ESSE Jacob Farrow behind 7.5.47 - 11.5.71 03:26
ESSE Dyson Sharp behind 7.6.48 - 11.5.71 06:02
ESSE Archer Day-Wicks goal 8.6.54 - 11.5.71 10:02
ESSE Will Setterfield goal 9.6.60 - 11.5.71 13:12
SYDN Rushed behind 9.6.60 - 11.6.72 15:40
SYDN Jai Serong goal 9.6.60 - 12.6.78 17:29
SYDN Logan McDonald goal 9.6.60 - 13.6.84 20:30
ESSE Isaac Kako behind 9.7.61 - 13.6.84 21:44
SYDN Rushed behind 9.7.61 - 13.7.85 23:17
SYDN Will Green behind 9.7.61 - 13.8.86 25:43
SYDN Isaac Heeney behind 9.7.61 - 13.9.87 29:25
Q4 SYDN Isaac Heeney goal 9.7.61 - 14.9.93 01:05
SYDN Rushed behind 9.7.61 - 14.10.94 02:39
ESSE Jye Caldwell behind 9.8.62 - 14.10.94 05:36
ESSE Rushed behind 9.9.63 - 14.10.94 07:48
SYDN Charlie Curnow goal 9.9.63 - 15.10.100 08:35
SYDN Isaac Heeney goal 9.9.63 - 16.10.106 10:03
ESSE Vigo Visentini goal 10.9.69 - 16.10.106 15:34
ESSE Nate Caddy goal 11.9.75 - 16.10.106 17:44
ESSE Peter Wright behind 11.10.76 - 16.10.106 24:20
SYDN Jake Lloyd goal 11.10.76 - 17.10.112 29:29