Round 13, 1978
Fitzroy vs Melbourne
Saturday 1 July
Venue: Waverley
Attendance: 13,933
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| Fitzroy | 5.4 | 7.9 | 16.17 | 19.27.141 |
| Melbourne | 2.3 | 6.7 | 7.10 | 8.13.61 |
Fitzroy win by 80 points
Goalkickers: Garry Baker 2, Peter Johnston 2, Ross Brewer 1, Henry Coles 1, Barry Norsworthy 1, Ken Roberts 1
Milestones:
Last Game
David Code
Melbourne's season went from bad to worse as the bottom of the table clash with the Lions ended up in Fitzroy's biggest win in 17 seasons.
Four goals in five minutes during the first quarter gave the Lions a good start but Melbourne stuck back in the second to take a narrow deficit into half time in a game that had all the hallmarks of a clash between the league's 11th and 12th teams. Nobody could have forseen the direction the match was going to take during the third term.
Fitzroy charged out of the blocks and piled on 9.8 to 1.3, restricting their opponents to just 33 kicks and 10 marks for the entire quarter with more than half of the Demons having one kick or less. It was even worse in the last term with six Melbourne players failing to put boot to ball once while the Lions ran riot.
30 scoring shots to seven in the second half was a mark of the Lions' dominance and had they kicked better than 12.18 it might have been an even more ugly result.
Best were Flower, Wells and Baker. Byrne suffered a corked thigh.
Reserves
Fitzroy 23.21.159 d. Melbourne 14.11.95
Goals - Mills 4, Walters 3, Cooke 2, Boccabella 1, Garratt 1, Hayes 1, Hunnibell 1, O'Keefe 1
Best - Gaunt, Mills, Maynard
Under 19s
Fitzroy 16.10.106 d. Melbourne 9.17.71
Goals - Angelis 2, Barclay 2, Elshaug 2, Bickford 1, Sadauskas 1, Wallace 1
Best - D'Ambrosia, Greene, McGivern
Media
Age - 03/07/1978
Football Record R14 1978