Round 4, 1961
Melbourne vs St. Kilda
Saturday 6 May
Venue: MCG
Attendance: 40,572
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| Melbourne | 2.2 | 4.3 | 8.7 | 12.9.81 |
| St. Kilda | 2.2 | 4.8 | 10.8 | 12.12.84 |
St. Kilda win by 3 points
Goalkickers: Geoff Tunbridge 3, Ron Barassi 2, Robert B Johnson 2, Hassa Mann 2, Clyde Laidlaw 1, Laurie Mithen 1
Milestones:
First game
Brian Roet
Melbourne's up and down start to the season continued as they lost their second match of the year at the MCG to drop to 2-2 and fall out of the four.
St Kilda pulled off the upset of the round with strong, aggressive tackling which Melbourne didn't recover from until the last quarter when they almost saved the match with a blistering comeback.
Inaccurate kicking cost the visitors a chance to run away with the match in the second quarter but they responded with six straight in the third to take a stranglehold on the match. Melbourne booted four of their own in the term but were still 13 points down at the last change.
They came home strongly and could have won the game if a hurried Hassa Mann shot on goal hadn't been touched in the goalsquare on the siren but the Saints defended grimly and held on to a narrow win for their first win on the MCG in a decade.
Johnson, Barassi and Gleeson were best. Adams was replaced by Nilsson in the last quarter.
Reserves
St Kilda 10.19 d. Melbourne 9.6
Goals - Turner 3, Thorpe 2, Urwin 1, Groves 1, Ireland 1, Rowarth 1
Best - Carroll, Collins, Petty
Under 19s
Melbourne 10.16 d. St Kilda 5.14
Media
Age - 08/05/1961
Football Record - R5 1961