Saturday June 6 - MCG
Crowd - 5000-9000
Melbourne 3.11
Hotham 0.8 (half time 0.2 to 0.1)
Melbourne win by 3 goals
Goalkickers: Coulson 1, Collie 1, McCrindle 1
After five consecutive losses against senior sides to start the season, Melbourne got a larger than expected crowd to see their first victory after the cancellation of a nearby Essendon vs South Melbourne match. That match had been cancelled due to rain, and the MCG was barely more playable.
The unbeaten Hotham were expected to extend Melbourne's misery, but the state of the wet ground after 48 hours of rain suited the lighter home side and they gave Hotham their first loss of the year. The oval was in such a condition that players could barely keep their feet, but Melbourne played the ice-rink like conditions far better.
Hotham kicked with the wind in the first half, and in the first three minutes the conditions became even more farcical when rain started falling again. Nobody scored for 20 minutes, and for much of the first half the ball was stuck on the south wing in three inches of water. Only the backmen managed to avoided going into half time covered in mud, and Melbourne's defenders had little to do in the second half as their forwards took over and kicked three goals while the visitors were kept scoreless - including a disallowed goal.
Best were Howard Morrison, Carroll and Edwards.
Notes
Some sources have Taylor scoring a goal instead of Collie and give Melbourne's final score as 3.8. North Melbourne Advertiser estimates the crowd as 10,000.
Media
Argus - 08/06/1885
Sportsman - 10/06/1885
North Melbourne Advertiser - 12/06/1885
Australasian - 13/06/1885
Australasian - 13/06/1885