Round 12, 1979
Footscray vs Melbourne
Saturday 23 June
Venue: Western Oval
Attendance: 14,308
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| Footscray | 7.6 | 10.7 | 16.10 | 18.12.120 |
| Melbourne | 1.2 | 6.7 | 6.12 | 11.15.81 |
Footscray win by 39 points
Goalkickers: Kelly O'Donnell 3, Chris Woodman 3, Andrew Moir 2, Greg Hutchison 1, Steven Smith 1, Maurice Wingate 1
Milestones:
First Game
Jim Durnan
Last Game
Shane Grambeau
With Phil Carman banished to the reserves after a horror outing against Collingwood a week earlier the Demons travelled to the Western Oval in disarray and were nearly seven goals down by the time the teams went to the first huddle. They would never get close to taking the lead again, and only a last quarter blast when the sting had gone out of the game stopped it from being another embarrassment.
Melbourne looked slow and unenthusiastic from the first bounce, and with fourth gamer Peter Giles assigned to the deadly Kelvin Templeton it looked like the gun full forward could be in for another huge day. To his credit Giles kept Templeton to five goals but he often turned playmaker further up the ground to set his teammates up and Melbourne didn't have enough to stop them all.
Carl Ditterich and Gary Baker were playing fine games in the ruck but none of their taps could find one of the Demon rovers who were being completely eclipsed by their opponents.
Ditterich took his players behind closed doors after the match and blasted them for half an hour. They remained just one game and percentage above St Kilda on the bottom of the ladder.
Best were Fowler, Woodman, R. Flower.
The dual wins in the lower grades were achieved despite an injury crisis that reduced the Reserves to 19 players and the Under 19s to 18 with no reserves. Barry Denny withdrew from the senior side with a heel injury then had to play for the Reserves.
Reserves
Melbourne 13.14.92 d. Footscray 12.13.85
Goals - Gull 5, Biffin 4, Bardoel 1, Coles 1, Seaton 1, Denny 1
Best - Carman, Gull, Seaton
Under 19s
Melbourne 15.14.104 d. Footscray 9.5.59
Goals - Boyle 5, Dickson 4, Parish 2, Chapple 1, Cochrane 1, Elshaug 1, Todd 1
Best - McKissack, Elshaug, Buntz
Media
Age - 25/06/1979
Canberra Times - 24/06/1979
Football Record R13 1979