AFL round 16 live updates: North Melbourne vs Essendon, Fremantle vs Gold Coast — blog, scores and stats

It’s early days, but the Bombers seem to be targeting the right side of 50.

They’ve had a couple of forward entries via that point, not all have worked, but maybe they see something in their attack or that part of the North defence.

The Bombers aren’t worrying about that early goal, and they have raised the pressure on the Kangaroos.

They chaos ball it down the right wing and handball inside 50, it comes to Hussien El-Achkar, who kicks inbound, it bounces and Sam Durham grabs it and snaps the Bombers’ first of the game!

Nice work from Essendon there.

Kangaroos by a point.

It’s been a bit of ping-pong footy in the opening minute, but the Kangaroos steadied when they got hold of it in the middle.

Luke Davies-Uniacke runs straight down the corridor and kicks from 50. It bounces through for the first goal of the game!

Ok, here we go.

Sunday footy is off and running at Docklands.

Who is going to take this game on early?

• R3, 2026: North Melbourne by 12 (Docklands)

• R8, 2025: Essendon by 3 (Docklands)

• R10, 2024: Essendon by 40 (Docklands)

• R22, 2023: Essendon by 9 (Docklands)

• R12, 2023: Essendon by 6 (Docklands)

• R20, 2022: Essendon by 48 (Docklands)

When the Kangaroos got the better of the Bombers in round three this year, it was not only the first time they had won in the last six games between the sides, it was in fact the first time they had won since 2016.

This time seems likely on form to follow the same story as last time, given Essendon has won only one game for the season, while North has won seven.

However there is a decent chance of a close one this afternoon — four of the last six have been decided by two goals or less.

The Bombers have had a rough season so far, with just one win for the year, an upset victory over Melbourne in Gather Round.

They are coming off the bye – can they bring some extra energy to kickstart their season going into the last couple of months?

There are no late changes to either team, and you can check out both the line-ups above.

For North Melbourne, there are three changes to last week’s side. Taylor Goad is omitted, Luke McDonald is managed and ruckman Tristan Xerri is out with a fractured jaw.

The ins are Josh Goater, Callum Coleman-Jones and Wil Dawson.

On the Essendon side of the ledger, the Bombers miss two key players – Archie Roberts with a dislocated shoulder, and Kyle Langford with quad soreness. Also out are omitted pair Elijah Tsatas and Nik Cox.

Into the side come a pretty strong quartet — skipper Andrew McGrath, key midfielder Darcy Parish, dynamic forward Isaac Kako and midfielder Jye Caldwell.

Hello, good afternoon and welcome to ABC’s live online coverage of round 16 of the AFL.

It’s been a round of interesting results, capped by last night’s stunning win by Port Adelaide in Showdown 60. We have two games left to finish up.

First up today we go to Docklands, where the Kangaroos will try to break back into the top 10, when they host the bottom-of-the-ladder Bombers.

Then round 16 comes to a conclusion with a fascinating matchup, as ladder leaders Fremantle seek revenge on the team that knocked them out of last year’s finals, Gold Coast.

My name is Andrew McGarry, and I will be bringing you all the action from today’s games.

Let’s jump in!