Round 16, 1908
Essendon vs Melbourne
Saturday 8 August
Venue: East Melbourne
Attendance: 15,000 - 16,000
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| Essendon | 6.2 | 11.7 | 13.13 | 17.17.119 |
| Melbourne | 2.3 | 2.5 | 5.7 | 8.11.59 |
Essendon win by 60 points
Goalkickers: Vin Coutie 2, Joe Hodgkins 2, Bobby Monk 2, Jack Smith 2
Milestones:
Nil
A big crowd turned up to see both sides play with strong teams on a perfect day for football and with Melbourne still having finals to play for but the match failed to live up to expectations. Essendon were faster, cleverer and had better system.
With no wind to affect the conditions they opened up a 23 point lead at quarter time and were never challenged again, extending the gap to 56 points at half time. Essendon dominated all aspects of the game, forcing Melbourne to resort to short handballs.
The visitors were a far better side in the second half, but were already too far behind. Essendon only narrowly improved their margin.
Best were Monk, who played with in both defence and attack when switched forward, Pierce and H. Purse.
Defeated let Melbourne a game behind South Melbourne and Collingwood, but with an inferior percentage and a clash against the Magpies to follow a week later.
Media
Argus - 10/08/1908
Punch - 13/08/1908
Leader - 15/08/1908