2026 AFL Season Round 25: Melbourne v Western Bulldogs

This is the match report for the match played on 22 August 2026 between Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs during round twenty-five of the 2026 season of the Australian Football League. Melbourne hosted the Western Bulldogs at the MCG. Max Gawn captained the hosts. Marcus Bontempelli captained the visitors. The hosts were coached by Steven King and the visitors were coached by Luke Beveridge.

Melbourne (12.15.87) were defeated by the Western Bulldogs (16.12.108).

Match Details

Season: 2026 AFL Season
Round: Round 25
Teams: Melbourne v Western Bulldogs
Date: Saturday 22 August 2026
Time: 4:15 PM
Venue: MCG
Attendance: 44,258

Match Results

Outcome: Melbourne def. by Western Bulldogs
Score: 12.15.87 - 16.12.108

Quarter Breakdown

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
Melbourne 3 . 2 5 . 6 7 . 12 12 . 15 12 . 15 (87)
Western Bulldogs 5 . 4 7 . 5 10 . 9 16 . 12 16 . 12 (108)
Margin WBUL by 14 WBUL by 11 WBUL by 15 WBUL by 21 WBUL by 21
Duration 32:37 31:30 33:51 31:56 2:09:54

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 (Western Bulldogs) are in the lead.

Honour Roll

Melbourne

Captain: Max Gawn
Coach: Steven King

Western Bulldogs

Captain: Marcus Bontempelli
Coach: Luke Beveridge

Brownlow Votes

Player Team # Votes
Marcus Bontempelli WBUL 4 3
Max Gawn MELB 11 2
Harry Petty MELB 35 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 91% 0 0 26 14 12 0 0 1 2 0 2 0 2 0
37 Chandler, Kade FPR 85% 1 0 17 9 8 0 0 6 1 2 1 1 0 5
47 Fitzgerald, Joel INT 55% 0 0 24 15 9 1 0 6 1 3 1 0 0 4
31 Fritsch, Bayley FF 96% 2 1 11 7 4 6 0 2 1 2 0 1 0 2
11 Gawn, Max (c) RU 88% 0 0 28 15 13 5 59 1 10 3 2 1 5 8
21 Jefferson, Matthew CHF 52% 0 1 7 3 4 2 0 4 1 1 1 1 0 2
14 Jiath, Changkuoth HBFR 74% 0 0 18 12 6 7 0 1 1 5 1 2 3 2
15 Langdon, Ed HFFR 92% 1 0 11 8 3 3 0 5 1 2 0 1 2 1
4 Langford, Harvey WR 79% 1 0 14 9 5 3 0 4 0 2 0 1 1 4
16 Laurie, Bailey INT 55% 0 2 8 5 3 3 0 2 0 2 0 1 0 0
8 Lever, Jake FB 91% 0 0 8 6 2 5 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 2
5 Lindsay, Xavier INT 55% 0 0 4 1 3 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
25 McDonald, Tom INT 69% 2 0 7 5 2 2 5 2 2 0 0 0 1 0
35 Petty, Harry CHB 84% 3 3 17 15 2 11 2 4 0 1 2 0 0 2
36 Pickett, Kysaiah HFFL 87% 1 1 26 17 9 2 0 4 7 4 0 1 3 10
24 Rivers, Trent HBFL 72% 0 0 11 6 5 4 0 6 0 4 0 2 3 2
3 Salem, Christian INT 84% 0 1 9 8 1 2 0 2 1 0 0 0 5 0
30 Sharp, Harry WL 76% 0 1 6 6 0 2 0 1 1 2 2 0 0 4
32 Sparrow, Tom C 81% 0 0 17 6 11 1 0 4 9 2 0 1 1 3
9 Steele, Jack RR 78% 0 0 21 7 14 2 0 9 8 1 3 0 1 3
12 Tholstrup, Koltyn FPL 95% 0 0 20 14 6 5 0 2 0 1 1 0 5 0
10 Turner, Daniel BPR 87% 0 1 13 11 2 5 0 1 0 3 1 1 2 3
6 Windsor, Caleb RO 77% 1 0 8 3 5 2 0 3 0 1 0 0 0 2
Rushed 4
Total (23 players) 12 15 331 202 129 73 66 72 46 42 17 14 34 59

Western Bulldogs

# Player Pos. ToG% GL BH DI KI HB MK HO TA CL CR FF FA RF IF
4 Bontempelli, Marcus (c) FF 81% 2 0 27 10 17 11 0 3 2 2 0 0 1 4
29 Bramble, Lachie HBFL 86% 0 0 18 12 6 2 0 2 1 1 1 1 5 3
19 Budarick, Connor BPR 70% 0 0 10 7 3 2 0 1 0 1 0 1 3 2
2 Carmichael, Lachlan INT 53% 0 0 5 5 0 3 0 3 0 2 0 1 1 1
31 Dale, Bailey HBFR 86% 0 0 28 22 6 5 0 1 0 4 0 1 10 1
42 Davidson, Sam INT 85% 0 1 18 14 4 2 0 1 2 4 2 1 2 5
26 Dolan, Josh INT 71% 0 0 11 4 7 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 3
27 Freijah, Joel C 81% 1 2 24 14 10 4 0 7 5 5 0 2 2 5
43 Gardner, Ryan INT 35% 1 0 4 3 1 2 7 1 0 0 1 0 1 0
6 Hynes, Cooper WR 77% 2 1 15 9 6 2 0 0 1 3 0 0 2 1
32 Jones, Arthur HFFR 78% 3 0 13 10 3 7 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 1
35 Kennedy, Luke INT 84% 0 0 20 6 14 2 0 2 2 1 0 1 0 3
8 Kennedy, Matthew RR 81% 2 0 26 11 15 4 0 4 4 2 0 2 2 3
24 Khamis, Buku FB 100% 0 0 14 10 4 6 0 2 0 1 1 1 3 0
7 Lobb, Rory RU 80% 0 1 13 7 6 3 17 3 5 1 2 1 3 2
33 Naughton, Aaron CHF 55% 2 1 15 11 4 9 0 2 0 3 2 0 0 2
18 O'Donnell, James CHB 94% 0 0 8 7 1 5 0 0 0 2 0 1 3 0
20 Richards, Ed RO 85% 1 0 30 19 11 1 0 4 8 2 1 0 3 6
9 Sanders, Ryley FPR 82% 0 1 21 7 14 3 0 4 1 2 0 0 0 3
37 Sellwood, Michael BPL 87% 0 0 12 6 6 3 0 5 0 3 1 1 3 0
3 Weightman, Cody HFFL 80% 1 2 12 9 3 2 0 4 3 4 1 2 0 1
14 West, Rhylee FPL 82% 1 1 17 9 8 4 0 2 2 2 2 0 0 2
34 Williams, Bailey WL 88% 0 0 14 3 11 0 0 3 0 1 0 0 1 2
Rushed 2
Total (23 players) 16 12 375 215 160 83 24 55 37 48 14 17 45 50

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
37 M. Sellwood 24 B. Khamis 19 C. Budarick 11 M. Gawn (c) 47 J. Fitzgerald
37 K. Chandler 31 B. Fritsch 12 K. Tholstrup 9 J. Steele 16 B. Laurie
FORWARD 6 C. Windsor 5 X. Lindsay
HALF-BACK

25 T. McDonald
29 L. Bramble 18 J. O'Donnell 31 B. Dale

3 C. Salem
15 E. Langdon 21 M. Jefferson 36 K. Pickett



HALF-FORWARD



CENTRE



34 B. Williams 27 J. Freijah 6 C. Hynes



4 H. Langford 32 T. Sparrow 30 H. Sharp FOLLOWER INTERCHANGE
CENTRE 7 R. Lobb 2 L. Carmichael
HALF-FORWARD 8 M. Kennedy 42 S. Davidson
3 C. Weightman 33 A. Naughton 32 A. Jones 20 E. Richards 26 J. Dolan
14 C. Jiath 35 H. Petty 24 T. Rivers

43 R. Gardner
HALF-BACK

35 L. Kennedy
FORWARD



14 R. West 4 M. Bontempelli (c) 9 R. Sanders



10 D. Turner 8 J. Lever 17 J. Bowey



BACK



Western Bulldogs Coach: Luke Beveridge

Score Timeline

Quarter Team Scoring Event Score Time
Q1 WBUL Matthew Kennedy goal 0.0.0 - 1.0.6 01:26
MELB Rushed behind 0.1.1 - 1.0.6 02:51
WBUL Joel Freijah goal 0.1.1 - 2.0.12 05:08
WBUL Arthur Jones goal 0.1.1 - 3.0.18 07:16
MELB Rushed behind 0.2.2 - 3.0.18 09:09
WBUL Ryley Sanders behind 0.2.2 - 3.1.19 11:45
WBUL Joel Freijah behind 0.2.2 - 3.2.20 13:35
MELB Ed Langdon goal 1.2.8 - 3.2.20 15:54
MELB Harry Petty goal 2.2.14 - 3.2.20 18:32
WBUL Cody Weightman goal 2.2.14 - 4.2.26 20:03
WBUL Aaron Naughton behind 2.2.14 - 4.3.27 21:38
WBUL Rhylee West behind 2.2.14 - 4.4.28 25:16
WBUL Ed Richards goal 2.2.14 - 5.4.34 26:55
MELB Bayley Fritsch goal 3.2.20 - 5.4.34 30:35
Q2 MELB Bailey Laurie behind 3.3.21 - 5.4.34 01:12
WBUL Arthur Jones goal 3.3.21 - 6.4.40 03:56
MELB Tom McDonald goal 4.3.27 - 6.4.40 05:31
MELB Harry Sharp behind 4.4.28 - 6.4.40 13:02
MELB Harry Petty behind 4.5.29 - 6.4.40 16:21
MELB Rushed behind 4.6.30 - 6.4.40 18:49
WBUL Rushed behind 4.6.30 - 6.5.41 24:24
WBUL Aaron Naughton goal 4.6.30 - 7.5.47 28:05
MELB Harry Petty goal 5.6.36 - 7.5.47 30:05
Q3 MELB Harry Petty behind 5.7.37 - 7.5.47 00:54
MELB Rushed behind 5.8.38 - 7.5.47 02:05
WBUL Rhylee West goal 5.8.38 - 8.5.53 04:27
WBUL Rushed behind 5.8.38 - 8.6.54 06:27
WBUL Aaron Naughton goal 5.8.38 - 9.6.60 08:20
WBUL Marcus Bontempelli goal 5.8.38 - 10.6.66 09:28
WBUL Cody Weightman behind 5.8.38 - 10.7.67 13:59
WBUL Cooper Hynes behind 5.8.38 - 10.8.68 18:10
MELB Kysaiah Pickett goal 6.8.44 - 10.8.68 20:03
MELB Bailey Laurie behind 6.9.45 - 10.8.68 21:18
MELB Caleb Windsor goal 7.9.51 - 10.8.68 23:30
WBUL Rory Lobb behind 7.9.51 - 10.9.69 25:09
MELB Matthew Jefferson behind 7.10.52 - 10.9.69 26:59
MELB Bayley Fritsch behind 7.11.53 - 10.9.69 31:12
MELB Christian Salem behind 7.12.54 - 10.9.69 33:48
Q4 WBUL Cooper Hynes goal 7.12.54 - 11.9.75 00:21
MELB Kysaiah Pickett behind 7.13.55 - 11.9.75 01:24
MELB Daniel Turner behind 7.14.56 - 11.9.75 02:36
WBUL Cooper Hynes goal 7.14.56 - 12.9.81 03:38
MELB Kade Chandler goal 8.14.62 - 12.9.81 05:47
WBUL Joel Freijah behind 8.14.62 - 12.10.82 08:34
WBUL Arthur Jones goal 8.14.62 - 13.10.88 09:43
MELB Harry Petty goal 9.14.68 - 13.10.88 11:22
MELB Harry Petty behind 9.15.69 - 13.10.88 12:57
WBUL Ryan Gardner goal 9.15.69 - 14.10.94 16:48
MELB Tom McDonald goal 10.15.75 - 14.10.94 18:26
MELB Harvey Langford goal 11.15.81 - 14.10.94 19:31
WBUL Cody Weightman behind 11.15.81 - 14.11.95 21:02
MELB Bayley Fritsch goal 12.15.87 - 14.11.95 22:46
WBUL Matthew Kennedy goal 12.15.87 - 15.11.101 25:12
WBUL Marcus Bontempelli goal 12.15.87 - 16.11.107 28:51
WBUL Sam Davidson behind 12.15.87 - 16.12.108 30:26