Round 13, 1927
Melbourne vs South Melbourne
Saturday 23 July
Venue: MCG
Attendance: 23,668
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| Melbourne | 5.5 | 11.14 | 13.15 | 20.20.140 |
| South Melbourne | 1.0 | 3.1 | 7.5 | 11.5.71 |
Melbourne win by 69 points
Goalkickers: Percy Tulloh 7, Tommy McConville 6, Jimmy Abernethy 2, Harry Moyes 1, Richard Taylor 1, Francis Vine 1, Ivor Warne-Smith 1, Herbert White 1
Milestones:
First Game
Bill Latham
After a thrilling top of the table loss to Collingwood and a disappointing result against Richmond the previous Saturday, Melbourne needed to keep South at bay to avoid further damaging their hopes of playing in the finals.
South hadn't beaten Melbourne at the MCG since the Redlegs' disasterous 1919 season, and they barely fired a shot on the day where victory could have put them within striking distance of the top four.
The Redlegs were falling apart at the seams, with Hugh Dunbar, Col Deane, Harry Davie, Stan Wittman and Ted Thomas already out injured before late withdrawals Robert C Johnson and Bill Tymms joined them. Given their greatly weakened team it was expected that South would challenge the home side. Meade and Tulloh came into the side for Johnson and Tymms and the latter contributed seven goals.
South had earned a brilliant win against Carlton the previous Saturday, but they went into the first quarter with the MCG wind and somehow conspired to concede five goals to one. Melbourne were not so generous when they had their chance in their second quarter, booting six goals to two to all but confirm victory. South got the first goal of the second term, but Melbourne responded quicker then shot away.
South put in their only good quarter of the match in the third, but even when they kicked four they conceded two so the margin was barely chipped away at before Melbourne booted seven goals in the last quarter to win the match comfortably.
Tulloh and McConville were best with 13 goals between them. Warne-Smith was also amongst the best.
The win left Melbourne fourth from Carlton on percentage.
Seconds
South Melbourne 11.15 d. Melbourne 6.6
Media
Herald - 23/07/1927
Sporting Globe - 27/07/1927
Table Talk - 28/07/1927
Football Record R14 1927