1989 National Panasonic Cup Semi Final
Melbourne vs West Coast
Wednesday 8 March
Venue: Waverley
Attendance: 7185
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| Melbourne | 1.6 | 4.6 | 5.11 | 7.13.55 |
| West Coast | 0.2 | 1.14 | 2.14 | 6.18.54 |
Melbourne win by 1 point
Goalkickers: Garry Lyon 2, Stephen Tingay 2, Simon Eishold 2, Luke Beveridge 1
Inaccuracy cost the Eagles a chance at victory, and Melbourne earned the chance to meet the winner of Carlton and Geelong in the final, for another shot at the title they'd won in dramatic circumstances in 1987.
Their last clash at the ground, the 1988 Elimination Final, had been a two point win the Demons and with the Eagles going one point better this time coach John Todd said they were "getting closer".
Despite dominating the second term the Eagles kicked 1.12 to trail. They scored eight straight behinds before getting a goal. Their record could have been even worse if a handful of out of bounds kicks had scored. The conditions weren't made for great football, a thunderstorm had passed the ground just before the first bounce, but the visitors only had themselves to blame. The Demons won despite new spearhead Darren Bennett, playing against his old side for the first time, being kept statless.
John Northey admitted his team had been lucky during their pre-season cup campaign, but said "it was just one of those nights where players found it hard to keep their feet and keep their legs moving".
Best were Stynes, Johnson and Spalding. John Ahern replaced Glenn Lovett in the selected side.
Selected team
B: Johnson, Hughes, Wight
HB: Grinter, Campbell, Rohde
C: Stretch, Eishold, G. Lovett
HF: Bailey, Spalding, Tingay
F: Lyon, Bennett, Chiron
Foll: Stynes. Newport, Beveridge
Int: O'Dwyer, Hawkins, Wilson, Jackson
Emg: Turner, Ahern, J. Viney
Scoring
Beveridge 1.0, Eishold 2.0, Lyon 2.1, Tingay 2.0, Bailey 0.1, Jackson 0.2, Newport 0.1, Spalding 0.4, Stynes 0.1
Media
Age - 08/03/1989
Age - 09/03/1989
Inside Football - 15/03/1989