2026 VFL Season Elimination Final 1: Port Melbourne v Sydney Reserves

This is the match report for the match played on 29 August 2026 between Port Melbourne and the Sydney Reserves in the first elimination final of the 2026 season of the Victorian Football League. Port Melbourne hosted the Sydney Reserves at ETU Stadium. Tom Hird captained the hosts with Kaine Baldwin as vice-captain. The hosts were coached by Brendan McCartney and the visitors were coached by Nick Malceski.

Port Melbourne (17.14.116) defeated the Sydney Reserves (9.7.61).

Match Details

Season: 2026 VFL Season
Round: First Elimination Final
Teams: Port Melbourne v Sydney Reserves
Date: Saturday 29 August 2026
Time: 12:35 PM
Venue: ETU Stadium

Match Results

Outcome: Port Melbourne def. Sydney Reserves
Score: 17.14.116 - 9.7.61

Quarter Breakdown

	Q1			Q2			Q3			Q4			Final
Port Melbourne	4	.	4	6	.	8	11	.	10	17	.	14	17	.	14	(116)
Sydney Reserves	3	.	2	5	.	3	8	.	7	9	.	7	9	.	7	(61)
Margin	PMLB by 8			PMLB by 11			PMLB by 21			PMLB by 55			PMLB by 55
Duration	30:24			29:56			32:37			31:55			2:04:52

Score Worm

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

Honour Roll

Port Melbourne

Captain: Tom Hird
Vice-Captain: Kaine Baldwin
Coach: Brendan McCartney

Sydney Reserves

Captain: unknown
Coach: Nick Malceski

Player Statistics

Port Melbourne

#	Player	Pos.	ToG%	GL	BH	DI	KI	HB	MK	HO	TA	CL	CR	FF	FA	RF	IF
27	Alessio, Luca	FPR	?	3	0	11	4	7	3	0	5	0	?	1	2	0	0
11	Baldwin, Kaine (vc)	FF	?	2	2	9	6	3	4	0	2	0	?	1	1	0	3
2	Bedendo, Dominic	HFFR	?	3	3	14	10	4	7	0	6	0	?	3	3	0	3
13	Downie, Connor	WR	?	1	0	21	14	7	7	0	1	1	?	1	1	1	6
32	Gahan, Matt	BPR	?	0	1	30	20	10	11	0	1	0	?	0	0	10	2
34	George, Roy	INT	?	0	2	12	7	5	0	0	5	2	?	1	0	1	2
28	Graham, Tom	FB	?	0	0	11	8	3	5	0	3	0	?	0	0	2	2
14	Green, Josh	INT	?	1	0	32	10	22	3	0	5	8	?	4	2	0	4
18	Hawkins, Ned	HBFR	?	0	0	17	11	6	3	0	0	1	?	2	0	1	3
4	Hird, Tom (c)	RR	?	0	0	23	14	9	4	0	3	5	?	0	4	3	4
8	Hobbs, Ben	RO	?	0	1	28	20	8	5	0	8	8	?	1	4	1	10
45	Hughes, Fletcher	INT	?	0	0	10	5	5	0	22	1	6	?	1	0	0	2
5	Mulady, Owen	INT	?	1	0	10	4	6	1	0	5	2	?	1	0	0	2
33	Penry, Flynn	RU	?	0	0	14	3	11	1	37	4	5	?	0	1	1	1
24	Polkinghorne, Riley	CHF	?	2	0	14	9	5	1	0	4	2	?	0	1	0	3
15	Rankin, Lachlan	HBFL	?	1	0	19	14	5	5	0	1	0	?	3	1	2	3
21	Rider, Max	HFFL	?	3	0	11	6	5	3	0	2	0	?	2	2	1	1
36	Rudd, Michael	BPL	?	0	0	21	15	6	10	0	2	1	?	1	1	2	5
43	Sparkman, Joshua	INT	?	0	0	18	10	8	4	0	1	0	?	0	0	4	1
12	Stubbings, Harry	WL	?	0	0	17	7	10	4	0	0	1	?	1	0	1	3
31	Tonelli, Alex	FPL	?	0	1	7	4	3	1	0	4	0	?	1	0	0	2
10	Tovey, Josh	C	?	0	1	27	10	17	1	0	3	7	?	3	2	3	5
6	Van Es, James	CHB	?	0	0	6	4	2	2	0	1	0	?	0	1	3	0
Rushed					3
Total (23 players)				17	14	382	215	167	85	59	67	49	0+	27	26	36	67

Sydney Reserves

#	Player	Pos.	ToG%	GL	BH	DI	KI	HB	MK	HO	TA	CL	CR	FF	FA	RF	IF
67	Andreacchio, Nicholas	INT	?	0	0	15	5	10	1	0	4	1	?	0	1	1	2
20	Andrew, Riak	BPL	?	0	0	6	2	4	2	0	7	0	?	0	1	2	0
23	Bowman, Ned	HBFL	?	0	0	27	17	10	3	0	6	1	?	1	3	8	4
69	Cameron, Harry	CHF	?	0	0	12	7	5	2	0	1	0	?	0	1	2	2
72	Clifton, Oscar	HFFR	?	0	0	10	2	8	1	13	12	1	?	0	1	6	1
51	Giacometti, Luke	INT	?	0	0	12	5	7	1	0	10	1	?	3	0	2	3
68	Gibbs, Khy	FPL	?	0	0	8	4	4	0	0	1	0	?	0	3	3	1
66	Harbour, Kaden	INT	?	0	0	5	4	1	0	0	3	0	?	0	1	1	1
65	Harrison, Joe	HBFR	?	1	0	12	8	4	0	0	9	6	?	0	1	0	1
56	Longmire, Jedd	INT	?	0	0	4	3	1	0	0	1	0	?	1	1	0	2
2	McLean, Hayden	FPR	?	2	0	8	5	3	2	3	2	0	?	2	0	0	3
43	Melican, Lewis	BPR	?	0	0	6	2	4	1	0	4	0	?	0	0	2	0
50	Mellis, Mitch	RO	?	0	2	18	8	10	0	0	6	2	?	1	0	0	2
46	Norris, Alex	CHB	?	0	0	2	1	1	0	0	1	0	?	0	2	2	0
53	Peters, Charlie	WR	?	0	0	6	3	3	1	0	3	0	?	0	0	0	4
18	Phillipou, Jevan	FF	?	2	1	9	7	2	4	0	1	1	?	0	1	1	1
62	Pignatelli, Benjamin	INT	?	1	0	4	3	1	3	0	4	0	?	0	1	0	2
10	Rosas, Malcolm	HFFL	?	0	2	8	2	6	1	0	5	1	?	0	1	0	0
64	Ryan, Tom	RU	?	2	1	8	4	4	1	8	3	2	?	2	1	1	1
41	Snell, Patrick	FB	?	0	0	11	6	5	1	0	5	0	?	1	2	8	0
54	Sutton, Jake	RR	?	1	1	20	17	3	1	0	7	10	?	7	2	3	10
57	Tidemann, James	WL	?	0	0	10	5	5	0	0	0	2	?	4	3	1	4
37	Warner, Corey	C	?	0	0	27	13	14	1	0	9	3	?	4	1	6	2
Rushed					0
Total (23 players)				9	7	248	133	115	26	24	104	31	0+	26	27	49	46

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

Port Melbourne							Coach: Brendan McCartney
BACK							FOLLOWER		INTERCHANGE
	20	R. Andrew	41	P. Snell	43	L. Melican	33	F. Penry	34	R. George
	27	L. Alessio	11	K. Baldwin (vc)	31	A. Tonelli	4	T. Hird (c)	14	J. Green
FORWARD							8	B. Hobbs	45	F. Hughes
HALF-BACK									5	O. Mulady
	23	N. Bowman	46	A. Norris	65	J. Harrison			43	J. Sparkman
	2	D. Bedendo	24	R. Polkinghorne	21	M. Rider
HALF-FORWARD
CENTRE
	57	J. Tidemann	37	C. Warner	53	C. Peters
	13	C. Downie	10	J. Tovey	12	H. Stubbings	FOLLOWER		INTERCHANGE
CENTRE							64	T. Ryan	67	N. Andreacchio
HALF-FORWARD							54	J. Sutton	51	L. Giacometti
	10	M. Rosas	69	H. Cameron	72	O. Clifton	50	M. Mellis	66	K. Harbour
	18	N. Hawkins	6	J. Van Es	15	L. Rankin			56	J. Longmire
HALF-BACK									62	B. Pignatelli
FORWARD
	68	K. Gibbs	18	J. Phillipou	2	H. McLean
	32	M. Gahan	28	T. Graham	36	M. Rudd
BACK
Sydney Reserves							Coach: Nick Malceski

Score Timeline

Quarter	Team	Scoring Event	Score			Time
Q1	SYDR	Hayden McLean goal	0.0.0	-	1.0.6	01:22
	PMLB	Kaine Baldwin behind	0.1.1	-	1.0.6	04:58
	PMLB	Lachlan Rankin goal	1.1.7	-	1.0.6	07:26
	PMLB	Dominic Bedendo behind	1.2.8	-	1.0.6	09:22
	PMLB	Dominic Bedendo goal	2.2.14	-	1.0.6	10:05
	PMLB	Connor Downie goal	3.2.20	-	1.0.6	13:31
	PMLB	Luca Alessio goal	4.2.26	-	1.0.6	15:19
	SYDR	Mitch Mellis behind	4.2.26	-	1.1.7	17:19
	SYDR	Mitch Mellis behind	4.2.26	-	1.2.8	18:42
	PMLB	Kaine Baldwin behind	4.3.27	-	1.2.8	25:00
	SYDR	Tom Ryan goal	4.3.27	-	2.2.14	25:56
	PMLB	Ben Hobbs behind	4.4.28	-	2.2.14	27:48
	SYDR	Tom Ryan goal	4.4.28	-	3.2.20	28:24
Q2	SYDR	Malcolm Rosas behind	4.4.28	-	3.3.21	06:59
	PMLB	Owen Mulady goal	5.4.34	-	3.3.21	08:03
	SYDR	Hayden McLean goal	5.4.34	-	4.3.27	09:49
	PMLB	Rushed behind	5.5.35	-	4.3.27	13:55
	PMLB	Roy George behind	5.6.36	-	4.3.27	15:15
	PMLB	Matt Gahan behind	5.7.37	-	4.3.27	17:51
	SYDR	Jake Sutton goal	5.7.37	-	5.3.33	18:29
	PMLB	Dominic Bedendo behind	5.8.38	-	5.3.33	24:12
	PMLB	Dominic Bedendo goal	6.8.44	-	5.3.33	26:03
Q3	SYDR	Jake Sutton behind	6.8.44	-	5.4.34	00:18
	PMLB	Luca Alessio goal	7.8.50	-	5.4.34	03:27
	PMLB	Dominic Bedendo behind	7.9.51	-	5.4.34	05:14
	SYDR	Benjamin Pignatelli goal	7.9.51	-	6.4.40	06:33
	PMLB	Kaine Baldwin goal	8.9.57	-	6.4.40	10:01
	PMLB	Luca Alessio goal	9.9.63	-	6.4.40	11:58
	PMLB	Josh Tovey behind	9.10.64	-	6.4.40	14:42
	PMLB	Riley Polkinghorne goal	10.10.70	-	6.4.40	16:07
	SYDR	Jevan Phillipou goal	10.10.70	-	7.4.46	18:04
	SYDR	Tom Ryan behind	10.10.70	-	7.5.47	22:21
	PMLB	Max Rider goal	11.10.76	-	7.5.47	24:34
	SYDR	Malcolm Rosas behind	11.10.76	-	7.6.48	25:35
	SYDR	Joe Harrison goal	11.10.76	-	8.6.54	26:25
	SYDR	Jevan Phillipou behind	11.10.76	-	8.7.55	28:27
Q4	PMLB	Riley Polkinghorne goal	12.10.82	-	8.7.55	01:10
	PMLB	Rushed behind	12.11.83	-	8.7.55	05:41
	PMLB	Dominic Bedendo goal	13.11.89	-	8.7.55	08:07
	PMLB	Max Rider goal	14.11.95	-	8.7.55	12:52
	PMLB	Roy George behind	14.12.96	-	8.7.55	13:58
	PMLB	Josh Green goal	15.12.102	-	8.7.55	16:37
	PMLB	Kaine Baldwin goal	16.12.108	-	8.7.55	20:16
	PMLB	Max Rider goal	17.12.114	-	8.7.55	22:45
	SYDR	Jevan Phillipou goal	17.12.114	-	9.7.61	24:22
	PMLB	Rushed behind	17.13.115	-	9.7.61	27:10
	PMLB	Alex Tonelli behind	17.14.116	-	9.7.61	30:37

Links

2026 VFL Season

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