Round 6, 1979
Melbourne vs Fitzroy
Saturday 12 May
Venue: MCG
Attendance: 21,773
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| Melbourne | 4.6 | 11.7 | 18.10 | 21.14.140 |
| Fitzroy | 4.4 | 12.6 | 17.13 | 24.19.163 |
Fitzroy win by 23 points
Goalkickers: Phil Carman 3, Robert Elliott 3, Andrew Moir 3, Kelly O'Donnell 3, Greg Wells 2, Michael Byrne 1, Glenn Elliott 1, Robert Flower 1, Gerard Healy 1, Robert Walters 1, Don Whitford 1, Maurice Wingate 1
Milestones:
Nil
The rebuilding Demons fielded six players with less than 10 games' experience, prompting the club to provide journalists with a pre-match briefing sheet about the team. With so many inexperienced players, they did well to kick 21 goals but were unable to keep up when the game became a shootout. They were 19 points clear in the second term and 16 in the third but failed to capitalise. They had a wide spread of goalkickers, but couldn't stop the Lions kicking a big score, including eight goals to Bob Beecroft. Beecroft had four in the first quarter, and one in the second against Bruce Elliott, before Shane Grambeau kept him relatively quiet for the rest of the game. Ditterich said he didn't have any other options to play on Beecroft.
Four goals in the first seven minutes of the third opened the lead up to 16 points but from then on it was almost all Fitzroy. Phil Carman bobbed up for a goal in the last quarter to briefly wrest the lead back but the momentum was with the Lions.
After the match Ditterich was pragmatic, he said "Only a fool doesn't learn from his mistakes. I'd hate to think I have fools around me". He had sacked rover Barry Norsworthy during the list, and flagged that more would follow.
The score broke the record for Fitzroy's highest against the Demons for the second consecutive match between the sides. Their next meeting extended the record further with the highest score in VFL history.
Reserves
Fitzroy 24.10 d. Melbourne 14.17
Goals - Thorne 4, Flower 2, Maynard 2, Biffin 1, Durnan 1, Gull 1, Kelly 1, McCormack 1, Woodman 1
Best - Woodman, Giles, Kelly
Under 19s
Fitzroy 14.15.99 d. Melbourne 10.7.67
Goals - Walters 3, Elshaug 2, Hope 2, Bardoel 1, Juliff 1, Moncrieff 1
Best - Bickford, O'Brien, Parish
Video
Notes
Sunday Observer shows the crowd as 36,464.
Lists
Highest losing scores
Media
Sunday Observer - 13/05/1979
Age - 14/05/1979
Sun - 14/05/1979
Football Record R7 1979