1h agoSat 2 Aug 2025 at 2:54am
AFL Saturday live scoreboard
4m agoSat 2 Aug 2025 at 4:10am
Fritsch joins the party after free kick
Bayley Fritsch has his first goal of the afternoon after winning a free kick for a push in the back.
Harry Edwards doesn’t look happy with that decision, but he had two hands in Fritsch’s back, you can’t expect to get away with that.
Fritsch snaps truly from a tight angle to make it three straight for the Dees in this quarter. All of a sudden, this one has a bit of ugly potential to it.
5m agoSat 2 Aug 2025 at 4:09am
Max Gawn is having a HUGE game
Max Gawn has a tendency to just take over games from time to time, and he’s doing it here so far.
The Melbourne skipper has 11 disposals to lead his team and also has five marks, 10 hitouts and a clearance.
The Demons now lead 14-9 in the clearances and 20-14 in inside 50s.
11m agoSat 2 Aug 2025 at 4:03am
Petty makes up for his earlier misses
Lovely ball movement from the Dees that time as Daniel Turner finds Harry Petty on the lead with a nice kick inside 50.
Petty, after missing two set shots in the opening quarter, makes no mistake this time around.
Demons out to a handy 27-point lead now, they’ve had it just about all their own way so far.
14m agoSat 2 Aug 2025 at 4:00am
Rivers goals after brilliant forward pressure
West Coast’s nightmares inside defensive 50 continue!
They’ve fiddled around with the footy way too much, and this time it leads to a Trent Rivers smother, which forces the loose ball.
A lovely bit of rewarding from the footy gods as the ball ends up in Rivers’ hands for the easy goal from a couple of metres out.
How’s this for a stat? The Dees have laid 10 tackles inside their forward 50 to West Coast’s zero.
16m agoSat 2 Aug 2025 at 3:59am
A couple of big tackles from the Eagles to start the second
Reuben Ginbey follows up Bailey Williams by laying a terrific tackle to win a free kick for holding the ball.
That’s better from the Eagles, they’ve been out-tackled so far 18-13.
21m agoSat 2 Aug 2025 at 3:53am
QT: Melbourne 3.5 (23) leads West Coast 1.2 (8)
Jacob van Rooyen kicked one of Melbourne’s three first-quarter goals against West Coast. (Getty Images)
A fascinating quarter of footy in the books, and the Demons will probably feel like they should be ahead by more than 15 points.
Melbourne peppered the goals early on in the quarter and probably should have two or three more goals, had they kicked straighter.
Eagles coach Andrew McQualter will be very happy to be within striking distance after that Maric goal.
Maric has been one of the best players on the ground so far and leads everyone with 10 disposals.
Max Gawn leads the way for the Demons with eight disposals, while Jack Viney picked up five clearances to go along with his seven touches in the first quarter.
The Dees hold a 14-11 edge in the inside 50 count and a 10-6 lead in clearances.
If West Coast can clean up its ball movement going forward, they’re not out of this by any stretch. That’ll be McQualter’s quarter-time message I’d say.
24m agoSat 2 Aug 2025 at 3:50am
Maric gets the Eagles on the board!
Ryan Maric has the first goal of the afternoon for the Eagles after winning two consecutive 50m penalties!
There’s a bit of lip out there between the two teams for sure.
Maric rubbed the hair of Jacob van Rooyen after van Rooyen gave away a 50m penalty and then also got into the face of Christian Salem as well.
28m agoSat 2 Aug 2025 at 3:46am
Langford snaps through Melbourne’s third
Melbourne has been knocking on the door for the last 10 minutes, and finally Harvey Langford provides the rewards.
A lovely finish from the youngster on his left boot after a throw-in, he just hung out at the back of the stoppage and waited for the handball.
Poor marking from the Eagles to leave him that wide open, but Langford did well to maintain his width and to stay away from the coalface.
Melbourne leading the inside 50 count 12-8 and the clearances 9-5 so far.
38m agoSat 2 Aug 2025 at 3:36am
Melbourne’s inaccuracy helping out West Coast
West Coast is lucky Melbourne’s forwards haven’t got their kicking boots on so far.
The Dees are 2.5 and really should probably be 5.2, so the Eagles still are somehow within striking range.
West Coast is taking way too many risks on its kick-ins, and the turnover count reads 8-3.
Melbourne has five marks inside 50 in the first 10 minutes of play to West Coast’s zero.
This brainfade from Liam Duggan tells you how West Coast has been operating in its own back 50.
43m agoSat 2 Aug 2025 at 3:31am
Van Rooyen strikes after Fritsch’s shank
Incredible comedy of errors but it leads to a goal!
Bayley Fritsch has an easy set shot from at most 30m out but kicks the turf as he kicks the footy, and the ball doesn’t even reach the distance.
Luckily for the Demons, Jacob van Rooyen is alert to it all and takes a mark inside the goalsquare.
Van Rooyen drills the set shot, making it a good start this for the Dees.
They’ve looked far more fluent going forward than West Coast has.
49m agoSat 2 Aug 2025 at 3:26am
Melksham gets the Demons on the board
Jake Melksham shows Ryan how to do it at the other end!
The Demons go coast to coast after the kick-in from the Ryan miss and Melksham takes a mark 47m out directly in front.
He goes back and absolutely flushes the set shot for his 30th goal of the season, what a revelation he’s been as a forward line weapon!
That was an excellent kick-in from Jake Bowey as well, straight up the guts to find Gawn.
50m agoSat 2 Aug 2025 at 3:24am
Ryan misses from two metres out
We’re off to a rollicking start here at Docklands.
Liam Ryan has his hands on his head after somehow missing a shot on goal from a couple of metres out.
It must be said that he was under a lot of pressure, but still that’s one you’d back him to kick every day of the week.
53m agoSat 2 Aug 2025 at 3:21am
Play underway at Docklands Stadium
We’re off and running as Melbourne hosts West Coast!
Max Gawn in the middle against Bailey Williams.
Liam Baker is also in at the centre bounce alongside Jack Viney.
1h agoSat 2 Aug 2025 at 3:13am
Goodwin in last week’s collapse against the Saints
Here’s Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin talking pre-game about that last-quarter collapse against St Kilda.
“It’s been a long six days in terms of just getting our heads right,” he tells Fox Footy.
“We know what the last quarter was, it was unacceptable. Clearly there was a lot to like in the first three quarters.
“Sometimes you need a result like that to open your eyes to show that you’ve got a lot of work to do.”
1h agoSat 2 Aug 2025 at 3:07am
Goodwin and the Dees badly need a win
Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin needs a win as his side tackles the lowly Eagles. (Getty Images)
Finals may be out of the question for both these teams, but there is PLENTY to play for if you’re the Dees.
The pressure continues to mount on senior coach Simon Goodwin, particularly after last weekend’s collapse.
Goodwin insists he has the full support of his board after a pre-planned board meeting during the week, but I wonder how much that would change with a loss to this Eagles side.
1h agoSat 2 Aug 2025 at 2:57am
Melbourne vs West Coast teams – No late changes
Both Melbourne and West Coast will line up as originally selected this afternoon at Docklands Stadium.
Harry Sharp is Melbourne’s sub, while Hamish Davis is West Coast’s sub.
Here’s a look at the full team lists for both sides.
Melbourne and West Coast’s team lists for this afternoon’s clash at Docklands Stadium. (AFL.com.au)
1h agoSat 2 Aug 2025 at 2:56am
Welcome!
Good afternoon and welcome to ABC Sport’s live AFL coverage!
We’ve got four matches on deck today, so it’s sure to be an action-packed day of footy.
Here’s what your Saturday slate looks like:
1.20pm: Melbourne vs West Coast @ Docklands Stadium
4.10pm: Gold Coast vs Richmond @ Carrara Stadium
4.15pm: Sydney vs Essendon @ SCG
7.35pm: Collingwood vs Brisbane Lions @ MCG
(All times AEST)
