Round 2, 1988
Footscray vs Melbourne
Saturday 9 April
Venue: Western Oval
Attendance: 15,693
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| Footscray | 0.0 | 4.5 | 5.9 | 9.12.66 |
| Melbourne | 5.1 | 5.5 | 11.8 | 13.8.86 |
Melbourne win by 20 points
Goalkickers: Tony Campbell 2, Garry Lyon 2, Brian Wilson 2, Greg Healy 1, Ricky Jackson 1, Alan Johnson 1, Steven O'Dwyer 1, Earl Spalding 1, Sean Wight 1, Graeme Yeats 1
Brownlow Votes:
2 - Brett Lovett
1 - Jim Stynes
Milestones:
Nil
The Demons went to the hostile Western Oval and came away with a victory thanks in part to the Bulldogs players getting themselves injured at a rapid rate. By early in the second term the home side had lost two players, and by the end of the game two more could barely walk and were only on the field out of necessity.
In fact the Dogs were five goals down when they'd only lost one player, and it was only when the second went down that they came to play. A wind-assisted five goal margin at the first break had been cut down to a goal at half time, and the Dogs held on until the last eight minutes of the third quarter when they conceded four goals in a row and went into three-quarter time six goals behind.
John Northey was full of coaching masterstrokes against the depleted Dogs, first he used Steve O'Dwyer to dominate the centre bounces and then after Bulldog Peter Foster had taken 10 marks in the first half he switched second ruckman Jim Stynes to centre half-back when he shut Foster down.
Five minutes into the last quarter Sean Wight ran through the centre, took three bounces and kicked a 60m goal into the breeze. Brian Wilson kicked another minutes later and the match was over. The Dogs kicked four goals to lessen the pain, but the match was well and truly over.
Best were Wight, Hughes and O'Dwyer.
Rod Grinter was in trouble for knocking Terry Wallace out with a brutal first quarter hit that rendered Wallace unconscious and with three broken teeth on his lower jaw - the impact being so strong that Grinter cut his left hand open and had to be hospitalised during the week.
Despite Wallace accepting an apology from Grinter, and the matter not being reported by a field umpire, the VFL investigated and found Grinter guilty in 12 minutes. He was suspended for six matches. The umpire who missed the incident was banished to the Ovens & Murray League for the next week. Wallace played with a special dental cast the next week and racked up 31 possessions.
Reserves
Footscray 17.15.117 d. Melbourne 10.4.64
Goals - Koop 3, Flintoff 3, Bayes 2, Duursma 1, G. Lovett 1
Best - Lovett, Koop, Flintoff
Under 19s
Footscray 14.12.96 d. Melbourne 8.6.54
Goals - Power 3, Putamorsi 2, Herbel 1, Mitchelson 1, Morey 1
Best - Knight, Morey
Lists
Scoreless first quarters
Tribunal
Media
Football Record R3 1988
Canberra Times - 09/04/1988
Canberra Times - 10/04/1988
Age - 11/04/1988
Age - 14/04/1988
Canberra Times - 14/04/1988
Canberra Times - 20/04/1988