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Pre Game
00:00
Since Round 3, Brodie Grundy has tapped a hitout to a teammate from just under 40 per cent of his hitouts won, the best hitout-to-advantage rate among the top 10 ruckmen for total hitouts in this span.
Quarter 1
00:00
Q1 is now underway.
01:47
SCORE
BEHIND - Suns (Jack Lukosius)
04:05
After Gold Coast record the first four inside 50's of the match without taking a mark inside 50, Melbourne score from their first inside 50 entry and mark inside 50. The Demons average a goal from 29.2 per cent of their inside 50 entries in 2023, the best conversion rate of any side this year.
06:13
SCORE
BEHIND - Demons (Rushed)
08:10
SCORE
GOAL - Demons (Kysaiah Pickett)
08:39
Back-to-back goals from back-to-back forward half intercept possession chains. Over the last four rounds, the Demons have scored 35 points per game from this source, ranked fourth in the AFL and 10 points more per game than they averaged in 2022.
10:20
SCORE
BEHIND - Suns (Sean Lemmens)
13:03
Jarrod Witts has contested every ruck contest so far in today's match, winning nine hitouts from 14 contests. By comparison, the Demons have decided to employ a committee of ruckmen, with four different players contesting at least one ruck contest to this point, combining for just three total hitouts between them.
13:44
SCORE
BEHIND - Demons (Tom Sparrow)
15:17
Suns Interchange - Wil Powell off due to the blood rule.
17:34
SCORE
GOAL - Demons (Brodie Grundy)
18:04
Halfway through the first term, the thing separating the Suns and Demons is their ball use going inside 50. From five kicks entering their forward 50, the Demons have found a teammate from four of them. By comparison, the Suns have hit up a teammate from just two of their six kicks going inside 50.
19:37
SCORE
BEHIND - Demons (Jack Viney)
20:07
Gold Coast live up to their name and go coast-to-coast to launch their first goal of the match from a kick-in. The Suns outscore their opponents by an average of 2.8 points per game from kick-in possession chains, ranked fourth in the AFL from this source over the last four rounds.
22:30
SCORE
BEHIND - Demons (Christian Petracca)
24:39
Wil Powell and Andrew Brayshaw share the lead in the match so far with four intercept possessions each. No other player on the field has more than one.
26:16
SCORE
GOAL - Suns (Malcolm Rosas)
26:24
Malcolm Rosas has equalled his season tally of two goals prior to today's match in the first quarter already to reward the Gold Coast who have won the inside 50 count 12-9 so far despite having just 47 per cent of time in forward half in the opening term.
28:53
SCORE
GOAL - Suns (Mabior Chol)
29:39
Gold Coast's last two goals have been launched from stoppage clearance chains, one from defensive 50 and that goal to Mabior Chol from a forward 50 stoppage win. Their stoppage dominance is largely as a result of Jarrod Witts' 12 hitouts, and five of Matthew Rowell's seven disposals recording clearances.
31:16
SCORE
BEHIND - Suns (Jack Lukosius)
32:25
SCORE
GOAL - Demons (Kade Chandler)
33:35
All four of the Demons' first term goals were launched from midfield possession chains. Over the last four rounds, the Demons have outscored their opponents by 26 points per game from midfield chains, the second-highest scoring margin of any side from this zone during this span.
Quarter 2
00:00
Q2 is now underway.
01:56
SCORE
GOAL - Demons (Max Gawn)
03:08
SCORE
BEHIND - Demons (Max Gawn)
07:48
SCORE
GOAL - Suns (Levi Casboult)
08:13
After providing two assists for goals in the first term, Levi Casboult gets his first for the match to lead all players with 18 points of scoreboard impact in the match so far.
12:58
Melbourne have recorded six marks so far in the second term. Of these six marks, Max Gawn has taken four, three of them intercept marks and two of those intercept marks in the Demons defensive 50.
16:11
Gold Coast have attempted 16 tackles in the second term, but only successfully laid six of them, recording a tackling efficiency of 38 per cent. By comparison, Melbourne's tackling efficiency is almost double their opponents (eight tackles from 11 attempts for 73 per cent efficiency).
16:54
SCORE
GOAL - Demons (James Jordon)
18:50
SCORE
GOAL - Demons (Brodie Grundy)
20:48
SCORE
GOAL - Suns (Jack Lukosius)
23:01
SCORE
GOAL - Suns (Malcolm Rosas)
24:35
Malcolm Rosas has already equalled his career best record with three goals in today's match so far to lead all players. He has accomplished this feat twice in his 25 career games before today, most recently against Hawthorn in Round 11, 2022.
25:40
SCORE
BEHIND - Suns (Rory Atkins)
27:10
SCORE
GOAL - Suns (Mabior Chol)
31:20
Melbourne have not lost a defensive one-on-one contest in the first half of today's match. In 2023, they lead the league in losing just 20 per cent of their defensive one-on-one contests for the season.
31:23
SCORE
GOAL - Demons (Alex Neal-Bullen)
32:08
Suns Interchange - Charlie Ballard off due to the blood rule.
33:14
All four of Gold Coast's goals this term were scored from beyond 40 metres out from the goal line. In 2023, the Suns have scored 36 per cent of their total score from this distance, the fourth-lowest share of any side at this distance.
33:26
Despite losing the centre bounce clearance count 7-9 in the first half, the Demons have been the only side to generate a score from this source, scoring 1.1 (7) to zero. However they have not launched a goal from any other stoppage clearance they have recorded.
Quarter 3
00:00
Q3 is now underway.
01:29
Matthew Rowell started fast with seven disposals in the opening term, but he has already equalled his disposal tally from the second term (one) in the opening 90 seconds of the third term.
02:23
SCORE
GOAL - Demons (Kysaiah Pickett)
04:35
Melbourne lose their first defensive one-on-one of the match, and Levi Casboult makes it count. The Suns have scored 32 of their 52 points from set shots. On average, they have scored 55 per cent of their points from this shot type, the fourth highest share of any side in 2023.
11:35
SCORE
GOAL - Suns (Ben King)
12:16
That goal to Ben King is his 12th consecutive goal from 12 set shots over the last four matches.
14:08
SCORE
GOAL - Demons (Jake Bowey)
14:56
Melbourne have now scored six goals from 13 forward half intercept possession chains. Gold Coast have recorded more chains of this nature (14) but only registered one goal from this source so far.
16:06
SCORE
GOAL - Suns (Brandon Ellis)
18:28
SCORE
BEHIND - Demons (Alex Neal-Bullen)
22:27
Gold Coast have just recorded their 25th mark of the term so far, 24 of them uncontested. By comparison, Melbourne have recorded five marks in total this term, which would be the equal second-lowest tally for any side in any quarter in the last three seasons.
24:37
SCORE
BEHIND - Suns (Rushed)
27:10
Jack Viney has just recorded his 15th disposal of tonight's match, to make him the 326th player since 1965 in the VFL/AFL to amass 4000 career disposals.
27:52
SCORE
GOAL - Demons (Tom Sparrow)
31:08
SCORE
BEHIND - Suns (Jack Lukosius)
32:22
SCORE
GOAL - Suns (Ben King)
32:28
Ben King gets a goal after the siren to tie the scores at the final break. That was the Suns third goal for the term from a free kick. They have scored seven goals over the first seven rounds of the 2023 season from free kicks, with only Hawthorn kicking less goals from this source (three).
Quarter 4
00:00
Q4 is now underway.
04:35
Bayley Fritsch just recorded his first disposal against his direct matchup Sean Lemmens, and just his second kick of the match. He is in danger of losing his goalkicking record, as this will be the first game in 36 matches that he will not score at least one goal if he does not register a major in the final term.
05:55
SCORE
GOAL - Demons (Christian Petracca)
07:03
James Tsitas has replaced Sam Flanders as the tactical substitute for the Suns. Melbourne have also activated James Harmes as a tactical substitute for Daniel Turner.
09:33
SCORE
BEHIND - Demons (Ed Langdon)
10:16
SCORE
BEHIND - Demons (Bayley Fritsch)
11:17
SCORE
GOAL - Demons (Max Gawn)
11:44
The Demons get the first two goals of the final term to re-establish a bit of a buffer on the scoreboard. The Demons have scored a total of 37 goals while conceding just 15 in the final term for a total point differential of 137, the largest final term scoring margin of any side in the AFL.
12:48
SCORE
BEHIND - Demons (James Harmes)
14:34
Both Gold Coast (18 defensive 50 possession chains) and Melbourne (eight defensive 50 chains) have failed to generate an inside 50 from any of their defensive 50 chains in the second half.
16:04
Suns Interchange - Charlie Ballard and is possibly out for the game.
19:10
Charlie Ballard seems to have suffered a serious head/neck injury and is making his way off the field on a stretcher. The Suns will miss his influence in the late stages of this match, as he led all players on the ground with five intercept marks.
21:17
SCORE
GOAL - Suns (Noah Anderson)
23:06
SCORE
BEHIND - Demons (Bayley Fritsch)
25:02
SCORE
GOAL - Suns (Malcolm Rosas)
26:18
Gold Coast are back within a goal after back-to-back goals to Noah Anderson (game-high 32 disposals, 14 contested possessions, seven score involvements) and Malcolm Rosas (career-high four goals), despite only recording four inside 50's in the final term, compared to 17 for Melbourne.
29:20
SCORE
BEHIND - Demons (Rushed)
30:20
SCORE
BEHIND - Demons (Bayley Fritsch)
32:47
Suns Interchange - Ben Long and is possibly out for the game.
34:35
Darcy Macpherson gets a set shot directly in front of goal but misses to the right and fails to tie up the game with 15 seconds left. It has been a seesawing battle in the final term and despite losing the inside 50 count 45-61, they have never looked out of the match.
35:09
Melbourne get away with a tight victory over the Suns off the back of outscoring the Suns 73-38 from intercept possession chains. Despite losing the contested possession count by their largest margin of the season (122-149), they were able to generate seven goals to five from general play to get them over the line.