Headlined by the Brisbane Lions upsetting Collingwood and the Adelaide Crows subsequently moving into first place, Round 21 of the 2025 AFL season saw many highlights and lowlights.
Lions upset Collingwood as Adelaide move into first
After being humiliated by the Gold Coast Suns last weekend, the Brisbane Lions produced a magnificent and dominant performance to upset the Collingwood Magpies by 27 points in their first win against the opponents at the MCG since 2014.
Heading into the match on Saturday evening with plenty to play for, the victory to the Lions see them remain in third place, while the Magpies have been overtaken by the Adelaide Crows and now sit in second place on the ladder.
The reigning premiers outclassed the Magpies with Hugh McCluggage starring with 34 disposals and seven clearances in the midfield while Lachie Neale (36 disposals and 12 clearances) and Josh Dunkley (31 disposals and nine clearances) both had strong performances in a match that is set to occur once again come finals time.
“If you’re a Collingwood supporter at home, you’d think we played probably as bad as we’ve played since round zero. That’s real,” Collingwood coach Craig McRae said.
“But that would be disrespecting Brisbane’s hunt and pressure, and we invited pressure by handballing way too much.”
We're only allowed to laugh at this because we won pic.twitter.com/c9us8NJaN2
— Brisbane Lions (@brisbanelions) August 3, 2025
Gold Coast dominance continues
Only four points away from moving into the top four, the Gold Coast Suns have continued their recent run of dominant performance with another stellar showing, this time against Richmond, as they moved into fifth place on the ladder.
Upset by Richmond earlier in the year, the Suns ensured that the same wouldn’t happen again as they annihilated their opponents by a whopping 84 points and have their sights set on making a run into the top four as they enter the final few matches of the season.
Noah Anderson led the match with 38 disposals, while John Noble (30 touches) and Matt Rowell (27 touches) were close behind him, cementing their threat on the game. Ben King (four) and Bailey Humphrey (three) were the main contributors to the score-line.
“If you had said to me we’d win by 80 I’d be absolutely pumped,” Suns coach Damien Hardwick said.
“But once again we’ve got our work cut out for us in a couple of areas, but the 80 per cent was pretty solid.
“You’ll always drift there (to thoughts of top four), but keep where your feet are … we’ve just got to keep winning games.”
From inside the centre square, Mac Andrew goes BANG! 🤩#AFLSunsTigers pic.twitter.com/WbEmHEcNIO
— AFL (@AFL) August 2, 2025
Jeremy Cameron inches closer to 100 goals
Geelong Cats full-forward Jeremy Cameron has kicked six goals in the side’s 88-point victory against Port Adelaide as he inches closer and closer to the milestone of kicking 100 goals in a season.
Starting the game off strong, Cameron scored four goals from six touches in the first half. However, the game then shifted to the Jack Martin show once he came on as an emergency sub, kicking four goals from 13 touches and five marks.
In a stellar attacking show at GMHBA Stadium, the Power had no answers in every part of the field as their opponents not only started strong but finished strong, keeping their spot in the top four.
Jeremy Cameron has kicked his FOURTH first half goal 👀
📺 Watch #AFLCatsPower on Ch.503 or stream on Kayo: https://t.co/b4GC05rbN3
✍️ BLOG https://t.co/DCRhgnQBnT
🔢 MATCH CENTRE https://t.co/OdxGgpKkXl pic.twitter.com/1bKEAK0JXf— Fox Footy (@FOXFOOTY) August 3, 2025