Round 6, 1998
Sydney vs Melbourne
Sunday 3 May
Venue: SCG
Attendance: 25,951
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| Sydney | 2.3 | 3.9 | 4.12 | 8.13.61 |
| Melbourne | 4.2 | 6.3 | 10.7 | 12.8.80 |
Melbourne win by 19 points
Goalkickers: Garry Lyon 3, Jeff Farmer 2, David Schwarz 2, Craig Smoker 2, Travis Johnstone 1, Todd Viney 1, Adem Yze 1
Brownlow Votes:
3 - Todd Viney
2 - Shane Woewodin
1 - Jeff White
Best and Fairest
36 - Todd Viney
33 - Garry Lyon
29 - Paul Hopgood
28 - Shane Woewodin
26 - Adem Yze
Milestones:
Nil
On a rainy, miserable Sydney day, the local side's chances were hurt when Tony Lockett withdrawal late due to a virus. Without the league's best goalkicker to trouble them, Melbourne kicked four unanswered goals in the opening 10 minutes.
After the burst Melbourne slowed, not kicking their next goal until five minutes into the second quarter. But another four goal burst at the start of the third term gave them another buffer of nearly 40 points.
With the Swans wayward kicking for goal and tendency to over-use the ball in the wet conditions Melbourne led all day, but Sydney mounted a charge in the last quarter. Paul Hopgood had a successful tagging job on Paul Kelly, keeping the former Brownlow Medal winner to seven touches, but two of his kicks were goals at the start of the final term. The Swans got to within 13 points with 20 minutes before the visitors steadied.
Melbourne's fifth straight win meant they had achieved more wins in those five weeks than they had in all of 1997. Neale Daniher said "We've got a club that's on a bit of a roll at the moment. It'll be interesting to see how we handle it. To actually beat the No. 1 side away means it was a very good win."
Best were Viney, Hopgood and Leoncelli. Stephen Tingay and Matthew Febey both suffered hamstring injuries. Shaun Smith was replaced in the selected side by Travis Johnstone due to concussion.
Notes
Sydney Morning Herald has the crowd as 25,952
Reserves
Sydney 14.13.97 d. Melbourne 8.11.59
Goals - Cann 2, Street 1, Donald Cockatoo-Collins 1, Walsh 1, Longmuir 1, Kowal 1, B. Williams 1
Best - Bradly, Bruce, L. Williams
Media
Sydney Morning Herald - 01/05/1998
Sydney Morning Herald - 04/05/1998
Age - 04/05/1998
Football Record R7 1998