1989 Panasonic Cup Round 1
Melbourne vs Sydney
Saturday 11 February
Venue: Waverley
Attendance: 11,554
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| Melbourne | 3.5 | 7.7 | 7.11 | 8.16.64 |
| Sydney | 0.2 | 4.5 | 5.9 | 6.11.47 |
Melbourne win by 16 points
Goalkickers: Garry Lyon 4, Earl Spalding 2, Alan Johnson 1, David Williams 1
The two sides played out a dull match with little to recommend it as anything other than a pre-season hitout. Lyon was one of few to spark the Demons, with 2.2 in the first quarter and half of his side's majors for the match. Late in the second term his side led by 33 points before Sydney dragged it back to 20 points at half time.
The second half was marred by abysmal kicking, with 1.9 for Melbourne and 2.6 by the Swans. Sydney wouldn't go away, until Lyon went onto the ball midway through the last quarter to help stem the tide. He kicked a fourth goal in the last quarter to seal victory, with the wasteful Swans missing four chances from inside 15 metres as a Melbourne side without eight players from its 1988 Grand Final side faded.
Best were Stynes, Grinter and Stretch.
Team
Ahern, Bailey, Beveridge, Eishold, Grinter, Healy, Hughes, Johnson, Keogh, Koop, B. Lovett, G. Lovett, Lyon, Newport, Normington, Spalding, Stretch, Stynes, Turner, J. Viney, Wight, Williams
Scoring
Lyon 4.3, Spalding 2.1, Johnson 1.0, Williams 1.3, Bailey 0.3, Grinter 0.1, Healy 0.1, Keogh 0.1, J. Viney 0.2
Media
Canberra Times - 13/09/1989
Age - 13/02/1989
Inside Football - 15/02/1989