Oliver Caffrey, Ed Jackson, Nick Smart and Scott Spits
Updated July 20, 2026 — 12:26am, first published 4:18pm
In today’s AFL Briefing, your daily wrap of footy news: Western Bulldogs heaped more pressure on Gold Coast with a nine-point win. Hawthorn dined out on lowly Richmond at the MCG on Sunday. Carlton forward Harry McKay suffered bone bruising and a minor tear in his meniscus against Collingwood. Dons delight: Bombers end losing streak Oliver Caffrey
An elated Dean Solomon has described Essendon’s stunning three-point upset of inconsistent GWS as a “bloody good feeling”.
Having won just one of their previous 30 games, the Bombers finally played with a sense of urgency to give Solomon his first win in his 10th match as a caretaker coach, which includes three at Gold Coast in 2017.
Leading at every break, Essendon gave up their advantage twice in a frantic final term but hit back through clutch goals to Sullivan Robey and Peter Wright.
Sheer wonder: Jacob Farrow of the Bombers. Getty Images With a wildcard spot still up for grabs, the Giants desperately tried to reclaim the lead in the dying stages, but Essendon hung on for a famous win – 10.7 (67) to 8.16 (64) – amid scenes of delirium in front of a small, but vocal crowd at Marvel Stadium.
It was Essendon’s first win since beating Melbourne in Gather Round in Adelaide on April 11, while they hadn’t won a game in Victoria since May 2025.
The Bombers, who were ravaged by Brisbane last Sunday and had lost 12-straight matches, were given virtually no hope of matching it with the red-hot Giants.
“It’s a bloody good feeling,” Solomon said.
Pumped: Dean Solomon with Zach Merrett. Getty Images “Our footy club’s been on its knees for a period of time, and the footy world’s jumped on that, and they enjoy us sitting at the bottom.
“We’ve felt that, and we don’t like that, so to push back a little bit and get one win, albeit one win, I’m just really happy for these players.”
The result continued GWS’s baffling trend of struggling against lower-ranked opposition whilst also dismantling last year’s grand finalists Brisbane and Geelong, and rampaging ladder-leaders Fremantle, amid their previous seven game
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