Melbourne’s stunning winning streak at the MCG has stretched to eight games on Saturday afternoon, defeating an inconsistent Essendon outfit by 45 points with ease.
Steven King’s side kicked the first four goals of the game to have a chokehold on the match from very early on, winning 13.17 (95) over the Bombers’ 6.14 (50).
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Round 14
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Dean Solomon’s side were held to their lowest final score for 2026, as inaccuracy from both sides in front of goal made for a skewed scoreline in the behinds department.
As it has been so often this season, it was Kysaiah Pickett and Max Gawn who spearheaded the Demons’ victory early, with the former racking up 18 disposals, 445 metres gained and three goals all before half time.
Melbourne goalkickers: K.Pickett 3, Gawn, Petty, Melksham 2, Van Rooyen, Langdon, Rivers, Chandler
Essendon goalkickers: Setterfield, McKay, Caddy, Cox, El Achkar, Robey
THE 3-2-1…
3. DEES DO IT FOR DANIHER AGAIN AS SUPERSTAR DUO PRESS REPEAT
Melbourne did it for Neale Daniher five days ago on King’s Birthday, and they played on again this Saturday afternoon to further honour their former coach and Australian legend.
Their 45-point win over Essendon didn’t require as much grit as their eight-point victory against Collingwood on Monday, but it did need them to create a large number of opportunities in gloomy conditions.
Star captain Max Gawn was at the forefront of the Demons’ performance, kicking two goals from his 23 disposals and 10 clearances in yet another huge skipper’s knock.
“He’s a smart man Neale, I feel like he may have planned this!” Gawn said with a smile.
“The Essendon game (today), the Big Freeze (last week). Hopefully it’s raised a lot of money for MND, that’s what we’re trying to do.
“There’s two parts to this. There’s honour Neale — and I think these two clubs did it really good. You’ve got Essendon who he played for, and Melbourne who he coached; so that’s a lot of Neale Daniher.
“Then last week was ‘Fight MND Neale’, which was a great Neale as well. I really think that we’ve honoured him extremely well these last couple of weeks, but we’ve got to play on. We’ve got to keep doing it in terms of Fight MND.
“It’s been heavy the (last two weeks). I’ve been glad I’ve been able to play a role in it to be honest … what a privileged position for me to be in.”
Gawn’s giant efforts came despite finishing Monday’s match under a slight injury cloud with a sore shoulder.
Right alongside him all afternoon was superstar Kysaiah Pickett, who for the third time in eight weeks recorded three goals and at least 28 disposals.
“The midfield group has been dominant, 3.5 from stoppages (at half time) and Essendon yet to score a goal from that particular part of the ground,” four-time Hawthorn premiership player Jordan Lewis told Fox Footy at half time.
“It’s been a classy first half from Melbourne.”
2. TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE FOR DONS AFTER SUBMITTING TO ‘CHAOS BALL’
As we’ve seen before from Essendon this year, there were glimpses of promise on Saturday afternoon — but nowhere near enough to come home with the four points.
Dean Solomon’s side conceded the first four goals of the match to give themselves a massive handicap once they finally found some sort of continuity, as the Demons’ ‘chaos ball’ left their defence at times without answers.
“The Dees want to live in this ‘chaos ball’ space. They want to control the ball out of the back half, but then they want to put speed on it and put the Bombers defenders under pressure,” Collingwood AFLW star Ruby Schleicher told Fox Footy at quarter time.
“Essendon’s midfielders and defenders just get sucked into the footy. They don’t know how to space themselves out to protect this ground.
“From 11 forward half intercepts, the Dees have scored 20 points (before quarter time). They’re getting so many looks from that area, and it’s from the chaos ball that the Bombers just aren’t sure how to defend.
“They don’t quite have the maturity to spread themselves evenly to really cover their stars.”
But, after just three goals in the first half, the Bombers shot out of the blocks after half time to kick three majors in less than 10 minutes.
Nik Cox, Hussein El Achkar and Sullivan Robey all found the middle of the big sticks in quick succession to breathe sudden life into an otherwise dull contest, with the margin lessening to 22 points halfway through the premiership quarter.
However, as Jordan Lewis pointed out at half time, their earlier errors made it too little, too late for a genuine shot at the four premiership points on a very overcast Saturday in Melbourne.
“Essendon are just filled with errors at the moment; fundamental errors that are letting them down,” Lewis told Fox Footy.
Returning hybrid defender Jordan Ridley looked to be on managed minutes as the club implemented an extra cautious approach with his fitness, finishing the match with 63 percent time on ground.
1. BOMBERS YOUNG GUN, DEES DEBUTANT DOWNED IN MCG ‘INJURY CARNAGE’
Essendon’s injury crisis these last 18 months has been more than well-documented, with a number of stars and young guns sidelined throughout their horror 27-game stretch which has seen just one win.
Unfortunately just before half time, one of the club’s very few survivors throughout last year’s horror show — Archie Roberts — was dealt a grim blow.
The 20-year-old ball magnet dislocated his shoulder not long before the main break when trying to tackle Kysaiah Pickett inside Melbourne’s forward 50, and was helped off the ground by a club physio.
“It adds a 16th player onto the Bombers’ injury list, something they’re not needing — particularly with how damaging he is … it’s injury carnage,” Ruby Schleicher told Fox Footy at half time.
Roberts played every match of the 2025 season, with only newly-appointed captain Andrew McGrath, Jaxon Prior and Isaack Kako able to replicate his good health.
In a further sour blow for the opposing Demons, mid-season draftee Lukas Cooke was ruled out not long before Roberts after suffering a cheekbone injury from a clash with first-year Don Sullivan Robey.
“Really disappointing for Lukas Cooke, who has gone out of the game after a collision with Robey,” Schleicher said.
“He was impressive for his first half of AFL Football, with the boys likening him and his position to a little bit of Harris Andrews.”
Veteran utility Kyle Langford was also taken out of the game in the final quarter with what the club has said is quad soreness.
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