Headlined by North Melbourne stunning Port Adelaide, Geelong mounting a miracle comeback, and Carlton edging Richmond in a tense finish, round 1 of the 2026 AFL season saw many highlights and lowlights.
NORTH MELBOURNE SHOCK POWER
The North Melbourne Kangaroos completely and utterly shocked Port Adelaide over the weekend with a thumping 46-point win to begin their 2026 AFL campaign in style.
Having not beaten the Power since 2019, the Kangaroos turned it around on the weekend with a stellar 113 (17.11) to 67 (9.13) win with Harry Sheezal leading the way with 31 possessions, eight marks, five tackles and five clearances at Marvel Stadium.
Meanwhile, Dylan Stephens and Luke Davies-Uniacke were completely involved in the action on Sunday, while Nick Larkey and Cooper Trembath bagged four and three goals apiece.
“You’ll need to cart me out in a casket, in terms of wanting to help this footy club and help this group of players,” Kangaroos Alastair Clarkson said after the match.
“We’ve got a great group of young kids, we’ve got some wise old veterans that can steer us in the right way, and we’ve got a group of players now around that mid-aged bracket that have really matured into fine players for us.
“I’m with these guys all the way.”
CATS PRODUCE MIRACLE COMEBACK
Five goals from Shannon Neale has led an inspired Geelong Cats to pull off a remarkable come from behind victory against Fremantle despite trailing by 35 points at the half-time break.
Entering the match with a troubled start, Geelong looked like they were in for a long afternoon after the opening two quarters as the Dockers took them to the cleaners and controlled the match in every aspect from the defensive 50 to the forward 50 en route to posting its highest first-quarter score outside of Western Australia.
However, the celebrations for Fremantle didn’t last long.
Geelong sparked a fierce comeback with five goals from Shannon Neale and three from Shaun Mannage leading the way from the home side. While Max Holmes (32), Bailey Smith (31) and Tom Stewart (27) led the disposal count as the Cats finished winning by ten points.
“We were disappointed with the way we handled the second half and disappointed with how we handled the last quarter,” Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir said.
“We didn’t defend Geelong well enough and when we did create opportunities back the other way we just couldn’t tie our work off.
“We kicked 3.8 in the second half.”
BLUES WIN A NAIL-BITER
The Carlton Blues have won a nail-biter against the Richmond Tigers emerging victorious at the famed Melbourne Cricket Ground by four points to start their 2026 AFL campaign.
Down by four points with just a couple of minutes remaining in the contest, the Richmond Tigers came agnosingly close to getting one over their fierce rivals but the Blues managed to hold on – mainly thanks to opposing key forward Tom Lynch kicking seven behinds.
Harry McKay and Mitch McGovern had two goals each for the Blues, while rookie Jagga Smith lit up the midfield in just his second career match and finished with 32 touches. Patrick Cripps and Sam Walsh accumulated more than 30 possessions each.
“Tonight was a little bit about our club. We’ve been targeted the whole week, both inside and out, and we get away for a win, and I’m just pleased our supporters can walk away and have a smile on our face and wear their jumper with pride and wear their scarf around their neck,” Carlton coach Michael Voss said.
“I feel like this one was for our club, I really do. It was hard fought, it wasn’t exactly the way we wanted it. There was no bow on it.
“We had to work for it, and we got it. I’m just really pleased for my club that we were able to do it.”