Round 22, 1983
North Melbourne vs Melbourne
Saturday 27 August
Venue: Arden Street
Attendance: 10,609
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| North Melbourne | 6.4 | 8.8 | 14.15 | 21.22.148 |
| Melbourne | 2.6 | 9.11 | 9.13 | 10.15.75 |
North Melbourne win by 73 points
Goalkickers: Ted Fidge 3, Adrian Battiston 2, Brian Wilson 2, David Cordner 1, Dale Dickson 1, Peter Moore 1
Milestones:
Nil
With Melbourne only having 24 fit players to pick from due to injury, and North fighting for top spot and a week off the Demons last ever match at Arden Street was never going to be a contest - even in the Demons 1500th VFL match.
The first quarter went exactly to script with six goals to two in favour of the home side, but the Demons struck back to grab the lead just before half time to provoke North coach Barry Cable into a furious spray at his side during the break.
With backman Steven Smith another casualty, in the match this time, most of the second half was spent with the ball camped deep in the North forward line, and Melbourne managed just one goal in the half. North's Bruce Abernethy even found time to entertain the crowd with a drop kick at the 27 minute mark of the last quarter.
As was so often the case it was a Robert Flower moment which provided Melbourne's hilight of the day. At one point during the second term revival he spun out of a pack on the half-back line, ran down the flank, played a one-two by hand, dummied one defender, bounced, evaded another opponent and handpassed to Ted Fidge to kick into an open goal. Fidge was also involved in his side's last goal, reducing the margin to 33 during the last term before his side was outscored 42 to two for the rest of the afternoon.
Best were Flower, Wright and Fidge. Smith suffered a calf injury.
Reserves
North Melbourne 30.31.211 d. Melbourne 4.3.27
Goals - Barkley 1, Barnes 1, J. Rugolo 1, Loutit 1
Best - J. Rugolo, Philby, Howard
Under 19s
Melbourne 16.13.109 defeated North Melbourne 14.9.93
Goals - Bailey 4, McCarty 3, Howard 2, Johnson 2, Payne 2, J. Fidge 1, Judd 1, Nichols 1
Best - Newport, Mazurek, Ward
Video
Media
Age - 29/08/1983
Age - 30/08/1983
Football Record Week 1 Finals 1983