Round 20, 1998
Port Adelaide vs Melbourne
Sunday 16 August
Venue: Football Park
Attendance: 28,660
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| Port Adelaide | 3.5 | 4.10 | 6.10 | 10.11.71 |
| Melbourne | 1.2 | 3.5 | 9.7 | 14.10.94 |
Melbourne win by 23 points
Goalkickers: David Schwarz 4, Darren Kowal 3, Todd Viney 3, Steven Febey 2, Guy Rigoni 1, Shane Woewodin 1
Brownlow votes:
3 - Steven Febey
2 - Todd Viney
1 - Stephen Tingay
Best and Fairest
36 - Steven Febey
31 - Stephen Tingay
29 - Todd Viney
18 - David Schwarz
14 - Matthew Febey
Milestones:
200 games
Steven Febey
With a win important in Melbourne's campaign to make finals for the first time since 1994, their task was made more difficult when they lost Garry Lyon (back), Glenn Lovett (hamstring) and Brent Grgic (hamstring) from the selected side. Early in the game, Port were the better side, and full forward Warren Tredrea beat Jamie Shanahan and Matthew Bishop before Marcus Seecamp shut him down. In a poor standard game, the home side was wasteful. They kicked 1.5 in the second term, and led by just 11 points. Then Melbourne booted six goals to two in the third quarter to take control of the game. The margin stayed relatively close but the home side never got in front again.
The win vaulted Melbourne back above Richmond and into the eight.
Best were Todd Viney, Steven Febey and Stephen Tingay. The replacement players in the final side were Seecamp, Robeertson, and Bishop.
Neale Daniher said "I thought we were fairly disappointing today. We are under no illusions that we need to play a lot better than that if we want to go further into the season. We were very lethargic at the start of the game. Possibly it was Port's poor kicking that kept us in it".
Reserves
Melbourne 23.13.151 d. Geelong 10.14.74
Goals - Brown 7, Nettelbeck 6, Smith 5, Cann 2, Smoker 1, Anderson 1, Cockatoo-Collins 1
Best - Nicholson, Nettelbeck, Brown
Media
Age - 14/08/1998, 15/08/1998, 16/08/1998, 17/08/1998
Football Record - R21 1998