Round 13, 1975
Melbourne vs North Melbourne
Saturday 28 June
Venue: Waverley
Attendance: 12,631
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| Melbourne | 0.2 | 2.5 | 5.6 | 6.10.46 |
| North Melbourne | 3.5 | 5.8 | 9.11 | 11.14.80 |
North Melbourne win by 34 points
Goalkickers: Stan Alves 3, Garry Baker 1, Tony Dullard 1, Gary Hardeman 1
Milestones:
First MFC Game
Ray Smith
Last Game
Graham Molloy
John Tilbrook
The Demons finals aspirations had taken a hit with their loss to Footscray a week earlier, and they travelled to Waverley knowing that a loss to Ron Barassi and the Roos would all but end their year with two months of the season to play.
Ex-Bomber Ray Smith had a quick introduction to his teammates before debuting. Smith had trained at Windy Hill two hours before being named in the Melbourne side. His clearance went through on Friday and by Saturday he was lining up alongside his new teammates at Waverley.
By 5pm it was North who had enhanced their finals prospects and almost ended those of their opponents. Wayne Schimmelbusch cut the Demons to ribbons on route to five goals, and after Sam Kekovich had been beaten comfortably by Gary Hardeman at centre half-forward in the first quarter he went to centre half-back and played an important role.
After a poor start to the season, North was winding up towards a run at the finals. In a poor quality game, played on a slippery surface with frequent showers they were barely challenged, 21 points ahead at quarter time before winning by 34. With nine games to play it left no room for error if Melbourne wanted to overcome a two win and percentage gap to the five.
Best were Hardeman, Alves and Fowler. Hurst was replaced by Tilbrook at three quarter time and Dullard (groin) by Molloy in the last quarter. Carroll had a lacerated knee.
Reserves
Melbourne 13.4 d. North Melbourne 12.9
Goals - K. Smith 4, Norris 3, Walley 3, Woodman 1, Chamberlain 1, M. Alves 1
Best - Chamberlain, Murray, Graham
Under 19s
North Melbourne 14.14 d. Melbourne 9.20
Goals - Campbell 3, Withers 2, Davidson 2, Young 2
Best - Campbell, Davidson, Withers
Media
Age - 27/06/1975
Age - 30/06/1975
Football Record R14 1975