Thursday 12 October, 1989
Skydome, Toronto
Crowd: 24,639
Melbourne 14.19.103
Geelong 13.12.90
Melbourne win by 13 points
Goalkickers: Darren Bennett 7, Stephen Newport 2, Luke Beveridge 1, Anthony Graham 1, Ricky Jackson 1, Jim Stynes 1, Stephen Tingay 1
In the second year of international matches being played in Canada, Melbourne won their first game in Toronto. Geelong arrived two weeks after a heartbreaking Grand Final defeat, but had beaten the Demons in their finals match.
To cope with the Astroturf surface, players covered themselves in grease, and wore both knee and elbow pads. Each team had 15 players due to the reduced dimensions of the stadium, with four 25 minute quarters.
Melbourne's win earned them the right to play against Essendon in the competition's final in London a week later.
Scott Turner suffered a back injury after falling heavily on the Astroturf surface. Matthew Mahoney, Matthew Febey and Anthony Graham played their first games for Melbourne.
Team
B: Wight, Seow, Connolly
HB: J. Viney, Mahoney, Rohde
HF: T. Viney, Lovell, Tingay
F: Stynes, Bennett, Beveridge
Foll: O'Dwyer, Newport, Jackson
Int: Turner, M. Febey, Keogh, Bailey, Graham
Video
Media
Toronto Star - 21/09/1989, 12/10/1989, 13/10/1989
Teamworks - Summer 1989
Age - 17/07/1994
Links
Program image courtesy of grandoldflag.net