{"id":77830,"date":"2026-08-22T08:04:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T08:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/77830\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T08:04:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T08:04:10","slug":"afl-round-24-live-updates-melbourne-vs-western-bulldogs-geelong-vs-richmond-adelaide-vs-gws-carlton-stuns-fremantle-blog-scores-and-stats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/77830\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL round 24 live updates: Melbourne vs Western Bulldogs, Geelong vs Richmond, Adelaide vs GWS, Carlton stuns Fremantle \u2014 blog, scores and stats"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"HarryHarry McKay celebrates with Carlton fans after his side’s 37-point win over Fremantle at Docklands Stadium. (Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Carlton will march into the AFL wildcard round high on confidence after a stirring 37-point victory over the minor premier Fremantle.<\/p>\n

The Blues signalled their finals intent in a commanding performance, overcoming an early four-goal deficit in the 18.11 (119) to 12.10 (82) win at Docklands Stadium.<\/p>\n

A blockbuster knockout clash with arch-rivals Collingwood could be next, depending on other results over the weekend.<\/p>\n

Sam Walsh (32 disposals), Jagga Smith (31) and captain Patrick Cripps (24) were all at the forefront of the Blues’ dominance in the engine room against a lacklustre Fremantle.<\/p>\n

Marc Pittonet shone in the ruck, Francis Evans kicked a career-best five goals, and Brodie Kemp and Ben Ainsworth added three each.<\/p>\n

The win continued Carlton’s remarkable resurgence under Josh Fraser, who has piloted 11 wins and a draw in 14 games since taking the reins as interim coach when the Blues were reeling at 1-8.<\/p>\n

The 44-year-old was rewarded with the full-time appointment as senior coach this week and celebrated in style with another rousing victory.<\/p>\n

Fremantle’s fourth loss of the season did not affect its position on top of the ladder but did come at a cost, with key defender Brennan Cox hurting a calf muscle early in the match.<\/p>\n

Justin Longmuir rested three of his regulars against the Blues, including leading goal-kicker Jye Amiss, and managed game time for the likes of Andrew Brayshaw, Caleb Serong and Hayden Young.<\/p>\n

But he would have a level of concern over the manner of the defeat, with the Dockers comprehensively outplayed by a far more energetic and hungry opponent.<\/p>\n

It was the biggest score Fremantle has conceded all season, resulting in their heaviest defeat.<\/p>\n

Young (23 disposals), Serong (23) and Brayshaw (21) battled hard, as did key forward Josh Treacy, who kicked three goals.<\/p>\n

\"Fremantle'sFremantle’s dominant regular season came to a rough end against Carlton. (Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Carlton coughed up the first four goals but hit back hard in a feisty start that was littered with spotfires, piling on eight of the next nine majors to lead by 11 points at half-time.<\/p>\n

It was a defensive act that most excited the home fans, who rose as one to applaud Ollie Hollands’ run-down tackle on Dockers agitator Patrick Voss in the goal square.<\/p>\n

Longmuir delivered some strong words to his players before they were allowed to head to the change room, but the message didn’t have the desired effect.<\/p>\n

Carlton quickly re-established their dominance after the re-start and were never headed, running away with the result in the final quarter.<\/p>\n

AAP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Harry McKay celebrates with Carlton fans after his side’s 37-point win over Fremantle at Docklands Stadium. (Getty Images)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":77831,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[77,9383,4293,9204,3009,5064,20308,2127,191,260,261,9733,5069],"class_list":["post-77830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-melbourne","tag-afl","tag-blues","tag-bulldogs","tag-cats","tag-crows","tag-demons","tag-dockers","tag-giants","tag-live","tag-melbourne","tag-sport","tag-tigers","tag-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}