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Last week I said I wouldn't be on the blog again, then injury and team management had me lacing up the boots for one more go around this weekend.

The hammys are sore but the heart is full, and it's been another action packed night of high-flyers, great goals, and entirely too many injuries for my liking.

I'll sign off here with a sincere thank you for joining us. Now get out there and chase some Aurora Australis before it disappears.

Happy hunting everyone!

The Western Bulldogs have posted their highest score of the AFL season and given under-fire coach Luke Beveridge some relief from fierce criticism with a 91-point thrashing of Richmond.

Under a blowtorch after four losses in their previous five games, the Bulldogs were dominant from the opening bounce in their crushing 19.19 (133) to 6.6 (42) victory at the MCG on Saturday night.

The Dogs held their opponents goalless in the first quarter and were never challenged in a result that improved their record to 4-5 ahead of a tough away clash with Greater Western Sydney next week.

Injury-riddled Richmond (1-8) slipped further into the mire and lost Maruice Rioli Jr (lower leg), Sam Banks (concussion) and Jack Graham (hamstring) in the process.

The contest never reached any great heights, with both sides guilty of a raft of skill errors.

Aaron Naughton, Sam Darcy and James Harmes (four goals each) cashed in on the Bulldogs' territorial dominance as they won a lop-sided inside-50 count (77-41).

Adam Treloar (41 disposals), Marcus Bontempelli (32), Bailey Dale (30) and Ed Richards (34) were prolific ball-winners, with skipper Bontempelli and Riley Garcia adding two goals each.

Dion Prestia (23 disposals, one goal) battled hard for Richmond on return from injury, Shai Bolton kicked two majors from 19 touches and Daniel Rioli (26 possessions) was busy, but the Tigers had few winners.

Bontempelli sparked his side with a classy opening goal under pressure but the Bulldogs didn't take full toll from their early control, leading 3.6 to 0.1 at the first break.

Former Melbourne utility Harmes kicked his first three goals for the Bulldogs during the second term as they stretched the advantage to 47 points by halftime.

It got ugly for Richmond in the second half as Treloar squeezed through a right-foot snap under pressure on the boundary line and the margin temporarily blew out beyond 100 points.

Unlucky Tigers midfielder Graham was substituted out with yet another soft-tissue injury just minutes before Banks was hurt in an awkward landing from a third-quarter marking contest.

Dogs ruckman Tim English accidentally took Banks' legs from underneath him after being pushed into the contest by Noah Balta.

Play was held up for several minutes while medical staff assessed Banks, who was driven off the field on a medicab.

In a social media post, Richmond said the 21-year-old was "awake in the rooms and doing OK" after the collision.

Rioli was hurt in the dying stages and also taken off on a medicab after his left leg got caught and twisted under the weight of a Treloar tackle.

The Bulldogs kicked six goals to two in the final quarter to complete the rout.

AAP

Gold Coast have monstered North Melbourne by 68-points to deny the competition strugglers their first win of the AFL season.

Determined to bounce back from their humiliating 34-point loss to local rivals the Brisbane Lions last time out, the Suns sizzled to a dominant 17.18 (120) to 7.10 (52) victory in Darwin's on Saturday.

North Melbourne are now on a nine-game losing streak.

The Suns came away with the win with grit rather than style as both sides struggled to score early in warm and slippery conditions.

Gold Coast were able to claim a one-goal lead at quarter-time partially thanks to the visitors' inaccuracy, Damien Hardwick's men going in 2.4 (16) to 1.4 (10) ahead at the first break.

Paul Curtis could have levelled the scores but the Kangaroos forward, running freely towards an open goal square, did not hear the siren as he kicked between the big sticks.

Gold Coast broke away to a 25-point lead, courtesy of goals to Jarrod Witts, Sam Clohesy and Noah Anderson, before the main break.

North Melbourne seemed to run out of legs in the second half, capitulating after the Suns piled on five unanswered goals across the last two quarters.

Their woes were amply illustrated when Ben Ainsworth flaunted his pace to outrun a jogging 'Roos pack and took two bounces before launching towards home from just outside the 50m  arc.

Gold Coast kicked six goals to three in the final quarter to seal the deal.

Suns coach Damien Hardwick was not afraid to swing the axe ahead of the clash, opting for a six-player change after Wil Powell was slapped with a five-match ban for directing a homophobic slur at a Brisbane player.

Darwin product Lloyd Johnston (one goal), Alex Davies (10 tackles, 13 contested possessions) and Bodhi Uwland (20 disposals) stood out in the inclusions.

Gold Coast were also well served by reliable onballers Touk Miller and Matt Rowell, while Jed Walter shone with his pressure work.

North Melbourne had an even spread of contributors, with Zac Fisher (34 disposals), Colby McKercher (30) and Luke Davies-Uniacke (35 disposals, nine clearances) all impressive, but they could not get their side even close to the line.

AAP

The votes are coming in from the ABC Sport commentary box for today's games. We'll update with the final two once we have them:

St Kilda v Hawthorn

3. Rohan Marshall (Saints)

2. Karl Amon (Hawks)

1. Jai Newcombe (Hawks)

Essendon v GWS

3. Nic Martin (Bombers)

2. Kyle Langford (Bombers)

1. Matt Guelfi (Bombers)

Richmond v Western Bulldogs

3. Marcus Bontempelli (Bulldogs)

2. James Harmes (Bulldogs)

1. Ed Richards (Bulldogs)

Gold Coast v North Melbourne

3. Touk Miller (Suns)

2. Mac Andrew (Suns)

1. Sam Clohesy (Suns)

From start to finish, that was all the Western Bulldogs.

There were winners all over the field for the Doggies, with Aaron Naughton, Sam Darcy and James Harmes all kicking four goals, while Adam Treloar had 41 touches and a goal, Marcus Bontempelli added two goals to his 32 touches, and Ed Richards set the tone with 34 disposals and 10 tackles.

This felt like what we all think the Bulldogs should be, they just need to play it more consistently.

On the other side, it was an ugly and costly night for the Tigers.

Completely outplayed, only four players went over 20 touches (Dan Rioli, Dion Prestia, Dustin Martin and Jayden Short), and to make matters worse, Jack Graham was subbed out with an upper leg injury, Sam Banks was knocked out cold, Noah Cumberland suffered a head injury, and Maurice Rioli was carted off with a nasty looking ankle injury.

The Dogs remain in 11th, half a game behind Collingwood who are yet to play.

What a horror night for the Tigers.

Rioli is going off on the stretcher now in a world of pain.

His ankle got caught under an Adam Treloar tackle, and on replay it's one of those cringe and turn away sort of injuries.

Fingers crossed for Maurice. The Richmond injury list grows.

Sweet mercy, one of these games has come to a conclusion.

They needed to get the job done against the Kangaroos after a lackluster performance against the Lions the week before, and they answered their critics in this one.

Controlled the game throughout, with Touk Miller and Sam Flanders great through the middle, and Ben King booting three goals.

On a night where the Suns have just got the job done without needing to be flash, Ben Long provides a rare highlight in front of his home crowd.

The Suns have done this easily.

Harmes joins the four goal party, Garcia kicks another, and it's 103 points the difference.

Meanwhile, the Suns are out to 59 points over the Roos - so Darwin has the close one.

If these results remain (yeah I know, I have to say it), the Suns move into ninth behind Freo on percentage (and ahead of Collingwood who are yet to play).

The Bulldogs remain in 11th, half a game behind the Pies.

A career-high four goals for Darcy and the domination continues.

Aaron Naughton also has four.

For what it's worth, Richmond last lost a game by 100+ points in R23, 2016, when the Swans got them by 113.

The Bulldogs' last win by 100+ was over West Coast in R11, 2022.

The Dogs have only beaten the Tigers by 100+ once in their history.

The story of the night for the Kangaroos, and the Suns, really.

Wide open spaces for Ben Ainsworth who takes a casual couple of bounces and boots a beauty from outside 50m.

It's a 63-point margin now and another disappointing night for North Melbourne.

The club doctor confirms young Banks is up and moving, and just has a headache from his clash with Tim English.

Great news for the club and for the kid.

It's an absolute Bulldogs domination at 'G.

The Tigers have no answers for Ed Richards and Adam Treloar in the guts, and Marcus Bontempelli has 21 touches to go with his two goals.

The big talking point of the quarter was Sam Banks being taken off on the stretcher. Great to see him awake and moving as he came off the field.

We'll have an update for you as soon as we can get one.

Edit: The club doctor says Banks is up and well in the rooms and just has a headache. That's some great news.

Sam Flanders and Touk Miller are killing it in the middle for the Suns and the Kangaroos just don't have any answers.

Ben King and Sam Clohesy both have two for the Suns.

That was a nasty one.

Banks was coming back with the flight of the ball and Tim English went low after being pushed in the back.

Banks flipped in the air and bent almost in two as he hit the ground.

The stretcher is called for straight away and he's coming off the field.

He appears to be conscious and is moving his arms. Good to see. That was a really ugly one in real time.

Noah Cumberland is also off with his head split open. He only just came on as sub for the injured Jack Graham.

Graham has been subbed out for the Tigers, and has ice wrapped around his leg just at the top of the knee. Noah Cumberland comes in.

And Jamarra Ugle-Hagan is off for the Dogs after copping friendly fire from Ed Richards, with a bump he'd probably get one or two weeks for if they weren't on the same team.

The Dogs have already made their sub, so should Ugle-Hagan not come back, they're down to three on the bench.

Edit: Ugle-Hagan is back. I am surprised.

This game needed a bit of a lift, and we've got it via Adam Treloar!

The Doggies midfielder gets on the end of a Tim English tap and boots a mongrel high into the sky.

Maybe it's all that electromagnetic energy in the sky right now, but somehow it tumbles the right way, and screws it way through the middle.

Treloar can barely believe it went through!

Ben King and and Sam Darcy have both kicked goals early in the third quarters of their respective games.

Darcy is showing why there's so much hype around the son of former Doggies ruckman Luke Darcy.

Three straight goals and he's looking dangerous.

So runners can deliver messages four times per quarter, plus after every goal. That's a relaxation on old rules. But Ross still isn't a fan.

"After coming back to coaching, there's a lot of pressure on us. There's a lot of pressure on me," he said in the post-match presser.

"I'm happy for the AFL to hear this, it's not an excuse. We've had a lot of tight games. We get four messages a quarter, and with three minutes to go you can't send a runner — I get that.

"(But) in my previous iterations (as a head coach) you could almost use a runner at will."

And he didn't hold back when pushed on it.

"People say kick more goals and you'll get more opportunities, but it's still limited. From my end I find that incredibly frustrating," he said.

"There'd be a lot of coaches (who agree). We're like neutered dogs. You sit there and you can see stuff and … you can't fix (it)."

Never one for being backwards in coming forward, Ross.