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Round 8 1897

Round 8, 1897
Melbourne vs South Melbourne
Saturday 26 June
Venue: MCG
Attendance: Unknown

1st2nd3rdFinal
Melbourne1.11.12.23.2.20
South Melbourne0.15.49.411.7.73
Match Statistics


South Melbourne win by 53 points

Goalkickers: Fred McGinis 1, George Moysey 1, Dick Wardill 1

Milestones:
Only Game
Tom Crawford
Alex Murdoch

Only MFC Game
Jack Godby

First Goal
Dick Wardill (3rd game)

Premiership favourites just a week before, Melbourne suffered their second loss in seven days in spectacular fashion. They had beaten South comfortably on their own ground in the opening match of the season, but were powerless to stop them handing out a revenge thrashing on the MCG.

Heavy rain poured down throughout the game, but in front of a small crowd it only stopped Melbourne from scoring as South continued to kick goals despite the sodden conditions. The home team played a better game than their score would indicate, but they were lacking where it counts most and too often tried to to pick the ball up when kicking it along the ground would have been safer.

With the club administration said to be blaming themselves for shifting the team around too often it was no surprise that the day's three debutantes were never seen in Melbourne colours again.

McGinis got the first goal of the game, and the only of the first quarter, but at the change of ends South improved their performance and kicked two quick goals amongst five for the quarter while the Reds only managed two more for the game.

Best were McGinis, Wardill and McLeod. The defeat saw Melbourne knocked into third, still level with first placed Essendon on wins and losses but well behind on scores for/against.

Media
Argus - 28/06/1897
Age - 28/06/1897
Australasian - 03/07/1897
Record - 03/07/1897