Round 21, 2001
Melbourne vs Fremantle
Sunday 26 August
Venue: Docklands
Attendance: 12,566
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| Melbourne | 3.2 | 8.6 | 11.12 | 16.18.114 |
| Fremantle | 5.3 | 6.5 | 7.7 | 12.7.79 |
Melbourne win by 35 points
Goalkickers: Jeff Farmer 2, Brad Green 2, Anthony McDonald 2, David Neitz 2, Jeff White 2, Simon Godfrey 1, Russell Robertson 1, David Schwarz 1, Troy Simmonds 1, Luke Williams 1, Adem Yze 1
Brownlow votes:
3 - Jeff White
2 - Adem Yze
1 - Alistair Nicholson
Best and Fairest
35 - Jeff White
26 - Simon Godfrey
24 - Ross Funcke
12 - David Schwarz
12 - Shane Woewodin
11 - Alistair Nicholson
7 - Peter Walsh
6 - Adem Yze
Milestones:
50 games
Daniel Ward
Against a side who had won just one game all year the Demons, desperate to finish season 2001 and never discuss it again, finally found a side they could bully even if it wasn't all smooth sailing.
It was only halfway through the second quarter that the puny crowd saw Melbourne draw equal with the Dockers, and from there they were unheaded in a dour late season struggle against a side that had only won one game. In a game of few positives other than the result Jeff White had his best game of the year with 33 touches and 11 marks, and Russell Robertson took a mark of the year contender over Dale Kickett which knocked the Docker player out.
Best were White, Godfrey and Schwarz while Alistair Nicholson did an effective job shutting down Matthew Pavlich. Shane Woewodin suffered a shoulder injury.
Neale Daniher said "I thought we controlled the game for three quarters, but we always left the window open a little bit. The game could have been killed off a lot earlier."
Media
Age - 27/08/2001