Saturday 11 June - MCG
Crowd: 13,000 - 16,000
Melbourne 3.17
Geelong 3.7 (half time 2.11-3.1)
Match drawn
Goalkickers: Rosser 1, Baker 1, Booth 1
After two wins against senior sides to start 1881, Melbourne's run was finally checked by the visitors from the country town but it wasn't a terrible result considering how strong Geelong had been in recent years.
The home side might have won, but they were wasteful, kicking 17 behinds to Geelong's seven. They attacked early, forcing the visitors back onto their heels in trying to defend their goal and giving Charles Rosser a glorious chance to open the scoring which he failed to convert. For the first few minutes the pattern of the game was that it was fast and furious but Melbourne had the better of it and made their visitors work hard to defend.
When the momentum switched in Geelong's favour they were far more efficient, scoring the first two goals of the game - the first from a place kick 50 metres out on a difficult angle. This sparked the home side after they had several costly misses. Eventually they scored their first goal of the day through Rosser, and a few minutes later Baker got the second.
Geelong retook the lead shortly before half time but Booth equalised with a third Melbourne goal late in the day. Shortly afterwards a dense mist fell on the ground and made it difficult to see. No further majors were scored and the match ended in a draw, with the Reds retaining their unbeaten record.
Best were McKenzie, Lamrock and Booth
Notes
Some sources have H. Power scoring instead of Rosser
Media
The Argus 13/06/1881