Semi Final, 2018
Hawthorn vs Melbourne
Friday 14 September
Venue: MCG
Attendance: 90,152
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| Hawthorn | 3.1 | 3.7 | 6.9 | 10.11.71 |
| Melbourne | 3.1 | 6.2 | 12.5 | 16.8.104 |
Melbourne win by 33 points
Goalkickers: Tom McDonald 4, Angus Brayshaw 2, Jake Melksham 2, Charlie Spargo 2, Sam Weideman 2, Max Gawn 1, Mitch Hannan 1, Alex Neal-Bullen 1, Christian Petracca 1
Milestones:
Nil
In their second consecutive Friday night in front of 90,000 people, the Demons further improved their winning margin from the Elimination Final. Before the game players were addressed by ex-coach Neale Daniher, who had been in charge the last time Melbourne played finals. In contrast to the win over Geelong, the game was tight in the first quarter, then it was Melbourne who scored the only goals of the second quarter against the run of play. Brownlow Medal favourite Tom Mitchell was a focus, tagged by James Harmes and knocked to the ground heavily by Neville Jetta after disposing of the ball. The Hawks tried to slow Melbourne down with possession play, but they failed to take advantage of opportunities in the second term and registered just 0.6
A Jack Gunston miss when running into an open goal led to Melbourne kicking three goals at the end of the third quarter, and the margin was out to 32 at three quarter time. Hawthorn then kicked the first three of the last quarter to cut the gap to 12. The third was immediately cancelled by a Jake Melksham shot from outside 50 and the Dees ran away with victory from there, earning a berth in the Preliminary Final.
Best were Viney, Hibberd and T. McDonald.
Video
Links
Demonblog match review