Monday May 25 - MCG
Crowd: 4000

	1st	2nd	3rd	Final
Melbourne	1.0	2.3	2.6	5.8
Fitzroy	1.1	1.2	5.3	6.3

Fitzroy win by 1 goal

Goalkickers: Leith 1, McGinis 1, Christie 1, Fry 1, Irving 1

Despite 14,000 people watching Collingwood play Essendon at the nearby East Melbourne ground, a respectable crowd turned up to see Melbourne take on the winless Fitzroy - the premiers of 1895.

The visitors had the better of the first quarter, but they failed to fire where it mattered most and by the end of the first quarter the two sides were equal. Melbourne were the far better team in the second term, but they only managed to add one goal to take a slender lead into the long break. They had their chances to put the game beyond doubt but kicking for goal let the home side down.

Having threatened to dominate in the second term it was a shock when the Redlegs slowed to a crawl in the third term and were destroyed by the visitors. With no wind to speak of Fitzroy ran riot, led by a dominant ruck division, and racked up a near match winning lead of their own going into the final term.

Melbourne turned the game on its head again in the last quarter, and with seven minutes left the game was tied at five goals apiece after Irving converted. Fitzroy, though, got the winning goal after a bungle in the centre of the field and steadfastly defended their line for the last three minutes.

It was the first time in several years that a Melbourne vs Fitzroy match was played without descending into players trying to brutalise each other.

Lewis, Christy and Sholl were best.

Media
Australasian - 30/05/1896
Sportsman - 27/05/1896