AFL Round 21, Melbourne vs West Coast, Gold Coast vs Richmond, Sydney vs Essendon, Collingwood vs Brisbane live updates — blog, scores and stats

More sloppy marking from the Bombers here as Braeden Campbell kicks his first of the afternoon!

Jack Buller takes a contested mark deep in the pocket, and hands it off to Campbell, who snaps truly on his left boot.

The Dons need to be more aware of situations like that when the ball is seemingly dead.

Matt Guelfi with an excellent finish in the goalsquare!

The Dons send a long one forward and it’s dribbling towards the goals and Guelfi gets a toe on it ahead of the diving Lewis Melican, who puts in a terrific defensive effort.

Dons with two goals in a row, they’ve made a good start here.

It’s only a matter of time until this guy starts dominating the league, in my opinion. I believe he is a future All Australian ruck-forward, and he’s showing why early here.

In the ruck he’s more than holding his own, but his running power there saw him push forward to mark in space inside 50. Then the set shot from 45 on a tight angle was sensational, especially for a player of his height. One to watch, if you’re not already.

This is something you don’t really see very often!

Play has been stopped as the groundsman comes out onto the ground to fill up a hole that has developed inside Essendon’s attacking 50.

No, that’s not the hole left by Matthew Lloyd’s retirement in 2009, there’s a legitimate hole in the ground.

The groundsman comes out as professional as ever and gets the job done and we can continue.

The Bombers are on the board after Archie Perkins converted following a push in the back free kick.

It’s been a game of turnovers so far, with Gold Coast’s edge coming in their physicality around the contest with Matt Rowell predictably leading the way.

Goals to Jy Farrar and now Ben King have Gold Coast up and running while pretty in pink.

Errol Gulden is playing in his 100th game today, and fittingly kicks the first goal of the afternoon!

Horrendous marking from the Bombers, who allow Gulden to get on the end of an easy handball to drill one on the run from 50m out.

What a 100 games it’s been for this man, arguably the best player to come out of the 2020 draft.

We’re just about to get underway here at the SCG as the Swans run out in their special Pride jumper this afternoon against the Bombers.

There was a slight concern earlier today that this match wouldn’t go forward due to some horrendous weather in Sydney, but it looks to have cleared up.

It’s a glorious afternoon at Carrara as the Suns prepare to take on the Tigers with eyes on a swift return to the top eight.

After a massive win over the Lions last week this is a must-win for Gold Coast to stay on track for a first finals campaign.

The Suns are in their Miami Vice pink kit, which is glorious. Let’s see how the Tigers can step up to this challenge today.

An absolute belting in the end as Melbourne responds to last weekend’s collapse in the best way possible.

The Eagles battled pretty hard in the first half, but proved to be no match in the end as Melbourne’s leaders all stood up in a big way.

It’s been a miserable old season for the Dees, but this will feel good for them for sure.

Christian Salem finishes as the game’s leading possession-getter with 30 touches off halfback for the Demons, while Ryan Maric led the Eagles with 29 touches.

It’s hard to believe that this match was truly in the balance at half-time, but the Demons put the result beyond doubt by kicking 15.6 to 5.5 in the second half, including 10 goals in the third quarter.

Melbourne skipper Max Gawn was imperious once again, finishing with 21 disposals, eight marks, 29 hitouts and a goal.

Jack Viney was a bulldozer in the middle of the ground with a game-high 13 clearances to go along with 25 disposals.

Bayley Fritsch led the way with four goals for the Dees, while Harry Petty, Harvey Langford, Jai Culley and Jacob van Rooyen all registered mutliple goals as well.

Christian Petracca makes it 20 goals for Melbourne and this score of 132 is now the Dees’ highest of the season.

Another horrible turnover inside defensive 50 for the Eagles.

That’s Petracca’s first goal of the afternoon and he’s also got 22 disposals.

Jai Culley is having himself some fun out there!

Culley skies over two Eagles defenders to take an excellent contested mark and then drills the set shot from directly in front of goal.

He’s got two goals now after spraying a set shot out on the full earlier in the quarter. Culley also has 12 disposals and two clearances.

Ed Langdon is Melbourne’s latest goalscorer after pouncing on a loose ball to dribble one home.

Langdon with 11 touches and has not stopped running all day, as per usual.

Meanwhile, Jake Melksham has been subbed out of the game with some hamstring tightness.

Jamie Cripps with another good finish from a set shot from right on the 50m arc.

It was a lovely weighted kick from Tyler Brockman that found Cripps running back with the flight of the ball.

The second half scoreline now reads 11.4 to 4.3, it makes for grim reading if you’re an Eagles fan.

Bayley Fritsch has four goals now, and this is the best of them!

He’s on the move and somehow gains control of a loose ball with one hand and almost in one motion he swings around and snaps it through on the left boot.

Fritsch has now kicked 12 goals in his last four matches after a slow start to the season.

This is starting to get really ugly for the Eagles now, the margin is 70 points.

How good is this?

Essendon debutant Jayden Nguyen’s father Duc, who has become a bit of a cult hero around the club, hands him his first AFL jumper in the rooms.

Nguyen will become the first player with a Vietnamese background to play in the AFL this afternoon when he runs out onto the SCG against the Swans.

Melbourne with three goals in what felt like the final couple of minutes to take absolute control of this contest.

The Eagles hung around for the first half of the quarter this time, but have been put to the sword in ruthless fashion by the Dees.

Melbourne’s 10.2 for the quarter was its best quarter of the entire season, and it means the Demons take a 63-point lead into the final change.

Surely this isn’t a three-quarter time lead they’re going to relinquish this time around.

Melbourne has gotten on top in this contest courtesy of its biggest names from that 2021 premiership side firing.

Christan Salem leads the way with 25 disposals, while Clayton Oliver, Jack Viney and Kysaiah Pickett all have 20 or more disposals as well.

Viney also has a game-high 11 clearances and has simply monstered the Eagles midfielders all afternoon.

Melbourne with a 45-31 edge in the inside 50 count and a 34-19 lead in the clearances.

The Demons have also out-tackled the Eagles 44-36 including an incredible 17-1 lead in tackles inside their own forward 50.

Both the Suns and Tigers will also line up as originally selected at Carrara Stadium.

Nick Holman starts as Gold Coast’s sub, while Kamdyn McIntosh is Richmond’s sub.

The Swans and Bombers will both line up as originally selected at the SCG this afternoon.

Caiden Cleary is Sydney’s sub, while Oskar Smartt is Essendon’s.

Jamie Cripps with a much-needed goal for the Eagles to stem the tide a little.

Melbourne’s lead back to 44 points now with three minutes left in the third quarter.