Round 15, 1935
Melbourne vs Richmond
Saturday 17 August
Venue: MCG
Attendance: 27,572
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| Melbourne | 1.1 | 5.5 | 5.6 | 10.8.68 |
| Richmond | 2.5 | 6.8 | 8.14 | 10.15.75 |
Richmond win by 7 points
Goalkickers: Ron Baggott 3, Les Jones 2, Norm Smith 2, Percy Beames 1, Jack Bennett 1, Maurie Gibb 1
Milestones:
First game and First goal
Norm Smith
Needing to beat the fourth placed Tigers to keep even the remotest hope of making the finals alive the Reds narrowly failed to stage a last quarter comeback. It was small consolation that the percentage gap between the two sides would still have been almost certainly too much to overcome.
Melbourne's aerial play was usually one of their strengths, but they were poor early and allowed Richmond to take the advantage. Jack Mueller missed several marks early and never recovered. The Tigers' defence also gave Melbourne trouble, stopping several scoring opportunities from close range in the first quarter.
Improvement early in the second quarter helped the Redlegs get back in the game, but Richmond continued to hold the advantage around the ground. The visitors returned to a short passing game that had been successful early in the third quarter, opening up a match-winning lead. Brief rallies were wasted when Melbourne players crowded the ball. Steady rain made the ball greasy in the last quarter, and it was Melbourne's best of the day. The cut the margin to seven but time ran out before they could attack.
After 40 games in the reserves Norm Smith was selected to start as the reserve. What was initially thought to be a broken ankle for Gordon Jones (but was later revealed to be a broken leg) in the first minute gave him the chance to make his debut. It was just one injury in a vigorous match where Melbourne might have won if they hadn't been as wasteful in front of goal, kicking out on the full seven times when shooting on goal.
After the match Sid Meehl discovered that he'd played with a glass splinter in his eye. On the day before the game a light globe he'd been adjusting burst and he didn't realise that the glass had entered his eye until after the game.
Seconds (played Saturday 3 August)
Melbourne 11.22 d. Richmond 10.5
Media
Sporting Globe - 14/08/1935, 14/08/1935, 21/08/1935, 21/08/1935
Herald - Herald - 16/08/1935, 16/08/1935, 17/08/1935, 20/08/1935
Border Morning Mail - 21/08/1935
Football Record - R16 1935
Notes
According to Football Record the match was rescheduled from 3 August. The seconds match was played on the original date.