Round 17, 1973
Melbourne vs Collingwood
Saturday 28 July
Venue: MCG
Attendance: 37,883
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| Melbourne | 5.6 | 7.7 | 8.11 | 12.15.87 |
| Collingwood | 4.4 | 10.7 | 14.14 | 17.24.126 |
Collingwood win by 39 points
Goalkickers: Glenn Swan 4, Paul Callery 2, Shane McSpeerin 2, Ross Brewer 1, Carl Ditterich 1, Peter Keenan 1, Greg Parke 1
Milestones:
Last Game
Noel Leary
John Morgan
With their hopes of a finals appearance hanging by a thread the Demons welcomed the old enemy to the MCG but only turned up for a quarter. At the first break they'd had 11 shots on goal for five majors, but only 16 more for the match.
Peter McKenna kicked five for the winners, ably assisted by George Bisset who was left along by the Melbourne players and revelled in the chance to put kicks straight into McKenna's hands.
The turning point came when Carl Ditterich, dominant to that point, hurt his knee and had to station himself in the forward pocket. Ross Brewer was also stopped by injury, taken out in a collision with Alan Holmes he added just one kick to his nine for the first quarter.
It was only poor kicking by the Pies in the last quarter that stopped them from running out with an even bigger win. Melbourne's September aspirations were now in tatters for another year.
Best were Alves, Callery and Ditterich. Fitzsimmons (bruised kidney) was replaced by Clark and half-time. Ditterich (injured knee) was replaced by Owens in the last term. Brewer also suffered a bruised back.
Reserves
Collingwood 18.19 d. Melbourne 13.14
Goals - Macdonald 5, Tesoriero 3, Osborne 1, McMullin 1, Slade 1, Mills 1, Williamson 1
Best - McDonald, Osborne, Williamson
Under 19s
Collingwood 25.18 d. Melbourne 12.6
Goals - Rees 5, Ellingworth 2, Arundale 1, Campbell 1, Chapman 1, McIllvenna 1, Moorhouse 1
Best - Ahern, McLean, Woods
Media
Age - 30/07/1973
Football Record R18 1973