Saturday 7 March - Lavington

North Melbourne 24.10.154
Melbourne 16.16.112

With Ron Barassi deliberately taking one less player into the game than North, the Demons were short handed during a 16 man melee.

Newspapers reported that in the excitement Brent Crosswell and Mark Jackson were seen biffing each other.

Before the match Richard Seddon had been forced to insure the players for the flight. He got $1.2m worth of cover for his 21 players, while North secretary Ron Joseph managed to value his side at $2m the same week.

Media
"Barassi's men caught short" The Age 05/03/1981
"Demons name Keenan" - The Age 13/03/1981
"VFL behind in its thinking" - The Age 13/03/1981