Round 1, 2014
St Kilda vs Melbourne
Saturday 22 March
Venue: Docklands
Attendance: 31,607
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| St Kilda | 1.3 | 4.5 | 8.6 | 10.8.68 |
| Melbourne | 2.2 | 2.10 | 4.11 | 6.15.51 |
St Kilda win by 17 points
Goalkickers: Shannon Byrnes 2, Matt Jones 1, Dean Terlich 1, Jimmy Toumpas 1, Dom Tyson 1
Brownlow votes
1 - Nathan Jones
Milestones
First game
Alex Georgiou
Jay Kennedy Harris
First MFC game
Daniel Cross
Viv Michie
Dom Tyson
Bernie Vince
First game as coach
Paul Roos
First goal
Jimmy Toumpas (15th game)
Dean Terlich (21st game)
Two understrength sides expected to be amongst the worst in the competition went into battle in the first game of the season, and the St Kilda side which had its midfield decimated by injury and suspension came out on top of a Melbourne team which had lost most of its key forwards.
Melbourne went in as favourites and started brightly, keeping St Kilda scoreless for the first 15 minutes of the game while scoring two goals of their own but an 0.8 second quarter gave the Saints the advantage. A four goal burst in the third quarter won the game for them, and though Melbourne stemmed the bleeding and stayed with them for the rest of the game they never got closer than 11 points for the rest of the game.
Best were N. Jones, Watts and Dunn.
Debutant Jay Kennedy Harris replaced Jack Fitzpatrick in the second quarter when Fitzpatrick suffered a concussion. He was unable to return. Tom McDonald was also forced out of the game with multiple 'corkies'.
Media
Age - 23/03/2014