Round 6, 1989
Melbourne vs Collingwood
Saturday 6 May
Venue: MCG
Attendance: 67,239
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| Melbourne | 2.1 | 6.4 | 7.5 | 9.10.64 |
| Collingwood | 2.6 | 5.10 | 12.13 | 18.16.124 |
Collingwood win by 60 points
Goalkickers: Tony Campbell 1, David Flintoff 1, Greg Healy 1, Ricky Jackson 1, Garry Lyon 1, Stephen Newport 1, Earl Spalding 1, Steven Stretch 1, Sean Wight 1
Brownlow Votes:
Nil
Milestones:
Nil
Faced with a big test against fellow finals contender Collingwood the Demons failed miserably in front of a big MCG crowd, losing to the Pies for the first time in seven games. They were physically dominated and only a tight defence who were doing the best they could in the conditions stopped Melbourne from suffering an even bigger thumping.
The scores were level at half time but the siege of the Collingwood forward line couldn't be repelled for long and they eventually broke through to bang on seven goals to one in a match winning third quarter. Melbourne stopped fighting and the Pies did as they pleased, stamping their authority on the clash with ease.
The league later investigated an incident between Steve O'Dwyer and Doug Barwick which left the Demon ruckman with a punctured lung and bruised ribs. It was the second time O'Dwyer had been attacked that year, suffering a eye injury in the round 3 clash with Richmond. He wa sout of the game by quarter time.
An upset John Northey accused his players of dropping their heads, saying "we have been priding ourselves that we can win close ones but there was no resemblance of that today. It just seemed to be a contagious thing when one player would get down and the others followed. We allowed them to lead us to the ball and our running players were non-existent."
Best were Stynes, Newport and Stretch.
Reserves
Melbourne 17.11.113 d Collingwood 10.8.68
Best: 'Team effort'
Goals: Beveridge 5, Howat 4, Yeats 2, Morey 2, Eishold 1, Keogh 1, Mahoney 1, Tingay 1.
Under 19s
North Melbourne 22.24.156 d Melbourne 4.3.27
Goals: Putamorsi, Prendergast, Lamb, Solyom
Best: Goldberg, Farrell, Schwarz
Media
Canberra Times - 06/05/1989
Canberra Times - 07/05/1989
Age - 09/05/1989
Football Record - R7 1989
Age - 06/07/1989
Age - 08/07/1988