AFL Roundup: Several teams hit with brutal reality checks in Adelaide

Aaron Murphy

Callum Mills and his Sydney teammates enjoyed a Gather Round victory.Michael Willson / Getty Images via AFP

Two wins separate first from 15th with no single team standing out as an obvious Premiership favourite as yet.

The numbers that matter

The big winners of Round 5

Sydney Swans are spending this week atop the ladder after another solid performance that was arguably the best of Gather Round.

They outclassed a Gold Coast side that were one of the Premiership favourites just four weeks ago, dominating all of the key stats from possessions and clearances to inside 50s to tackles and defensive 50 rebounds.

Isaac Heeney shored up the three Brownlow votes with a mesmerising all-round display that included 33 touches, 11 clearances and 12 direct score involvements, reminding the competition of just how much they missed him during the 17-point loss to Hawthorn when they could muster up only nine scoring shots after quarter-time.

"It's a pretty amazing side we've got at the moment," Heeney said of the Swans on Monday, giving a special shoutout to former Sun Malcolm Rosas and veteran Tom Papley for "terrorising" the Gold Coast defensive 50 and both showing demonstrable improvement throughout the season.

The Swans are 4-1 having also shredded Brisbane Lions when they were slow out of the gates in 2026 and are preparing for a home derby against a GWS side who, despite coming in off the back of a soft kill of Richmond, had lost three consecutive games prior.

The big losers of Round 5

What on earth is going on with the Melbourne Demons at the moment?

Between the mother of all comebacks against Carlton (kicking 14 goals to four after half-time) and joining the Swans in having worked over the Gold Coast, Melbourne were looking pretty good under new head coach Steven King.

Find me a person on the planet who saw this result coming, because I want to get from them some badly-needed lottery advice.

Melbourne got a dose of the medicine they gave the Blues earlier in the season to be outscored 11.3 to 2.6 after half-time by an Essendon side who were playing like a potential 0-22 club.

Perhaps there was a bit of third quarter complacency, but when the Bombers sensed an opportunity and put on some pressure, the Demons just had no response.

They were outworked for the hard ball, losing the contested possession and clearance count, and the Bombers registered 11 more scoring shots than Melbourne from only two more inside 50s.

Melbourne have found themselves facing an improved Brisbane Lions at the wrong time and could find themselves 3-3 instead of 5-1 in no time.

Who kicked big bags this round?

There were once again no hauls of 5+ goals this weekend, but instead four for Aaron Cadman (GWS Giants), Mykelti Lefau (Richmond), Josh Rachele (Adelaide) and Jobe Shanahan (West Coast).