Round 13, 1986
St. Kilda vs Melbourne
Saturday 21 June
Venue: Moorabbin
Attendance: 11,242
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| St. Kilda | 6.4 | 9.6 | 13.8 | 15.11.101 |
| Melbourne | 4.0 | 5.1 | 5.3 | 7.7.49 |
St. Kilda win by 52 points
Goalkickers: Greg Healy 3, Danny Hughes 1, Alan Jarrott 1, Russell Richards 1, Brian Wilson 1
Brownlow Votes:
Nil
Milestones:
50 Games
Michael O'Sullivan
The battle was between the 11th and 12th placed sides in the competition, but the Demons had won three more games than the Saints. Unfortunately they had won just one since Round 2.
St Kilda, who had taken to calling themselves the Southern Saints that year, had been forced to publicly back coach Graham Gellie throughout the week and deny that they were going to sack him. He was under stress, and under investigation from the league after angrily confronting umpires the week before, so the last thing he needed was another loss.
Luckily for Gellie his side were playing the flaky Demons, and even more fortuitously Melbourne were injury hit. Alan Johnson had broken his thumb after returning from a five week gap and both David Cordner and John Fidge were unavailable.
The inability to kick a score which had plagued the side all year struck in force an the visitors managed just three goals after quarter time. St Kilda were no good, but they were playing a side that was absolutely terrible. Even a brawl before the bounce was of such poor quality that the umpires couldn't find anybody to report. On a wet day Greg Healy kicked the first goal of the match but it was downhill from there.
At half time the lead was 29 points but whoever was in charge of the sound system at Moorabbin got excited prematurely and started playing the theme song. It could have been the cue for a embarassing turnaround but Melbourne weren't up to it. Even when they did have chances the Demons botched them, Russell Richards missing from 25m out and Brian Wilson not even scoring after kicking into the man on the mark in the same spot.
It hadn't helped that they'd lost Graeme Yeats and Danny Hughes (hamstring) to injury in the first half but Melbourne's season had just gone from bad to worse. With nobody scoring at one end and the defence under siege at the other they couldn't afford any passengers and Peter Moore had been in terrible form.
Saints coach Graham Gellie was pictured holding a bottle of champagne in the rooms after the game, but his excitement was premature, the Saints only won one more game and finished last for the fourth consecutive year.
Melbourne remained two games above the Saints in 11th but their year had just hit rock bottom.
Best were Wight, Healy and Jarrott
Reserves
St Kilda 18.14.122 d. Melbourne 9.12.66
Goals - Jackson 3, Icke 2, F. Rugolo 1, Eishold 1, Stynes 1, Sparks 1
Best - Lovett, Connolly, O'Dwyer
Under 19s
Melbourne 9.15.69 d. St Kilda 8.9.57
Goals - Stoney 2, Dann 2, Aitken 1, Brodie 1, Duursma 1, Lawrence 1, Normington 1
Best - Martello, Smit, Allardice
Media
Age - 23/06/1986
Football Record R14 1986