Round 9, 1985
Essendon vs Melbourne
Saturday 25 May
Venue: Windy Hill
Attendance: 19,985
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| Essendon | 7.3 | 12.8 | 20.12 | 23.15.153 |
| Melbourne | 2.5 | 3.10 | 5.14 | 9.17.71 |
Essendon win by 82 points
Goalkickers: Sean Wight 3, David Cordner 2, Adrian Battiston 1, Ted Fidge 1, Gerard Healy 1, Brian Wilson 1
Milestones:
First Goal
Sean Wight (2nd game)
Statistical categories led:
Equal biggest loss at Windy Hill
On the day Neale Daniher made a celebrated comeback after missing three full seasons with injury, Kevin Sheedy’s Bombers set themselves for an aggressive opposition but the Demons didn’t come to play.
Late in the first quarter, with the Bombers already 22 points in front, came a piece of play which was symptomatic of the Demons problems that day. Alan Johnson beat his opponent in a race along the wing, slid to his knees to win the contest then turned around to find that he was outnumbered three to one. Without a teammate to support him the ball was whisked forward where the Bombers kicked a goal and effectively killed the contest.
With Peter Moore being beaten handily in the ruck, and his team short on key defenders there was precious little Barassi could do. He was forced to play second gamer Sean Wight at full-back on Terry Daniher, a move which Daniher used to his full advantage.
Barassi said "Nothing I tried came off. They were too fast and too skillful". He might have been speaking only of Tim Watson who had met and dispatched Alan Jarrott, Robin White and Chris Connolly during the day. A last minute shuffle of the pack put Brian Wilson - well held until then - onto Watson and Wight to full forward where he kicked three goals. David Cordner had kicked two goals in the first quarter until Sheedy moved the returning Neale Daniher onto him to shut him down.
The coach reaffirmed that he’d leave if the side didn’t improve, saying “if Melbourne has a poor year I will not go on coaching. I won’t be coaching Melbourne forever and I will give it away when I think I should. It could be this year”.
Best were Giles, Johnson and Zantuck. Gerard Healy faced an examination on his knee, Johnson a hip injury, Cox a hamstring and Grinter a shoulder.
Video
Reserves
Essendon 15.10.100 d. Melbourne 12.14.86
Goals - Dickson 4, Fidge 2, Matthews 2, Newport 2, Hutchison 1, Tanner 1
Best - Louttit, Allday, Dickson
Under 19s
Melbourne 15.10.100 d. Essendon 14.14.98
Media
Age - 27/05/1985