Saturday July 23 - East Melbourne
Crowd: 10,000 - 12,000

Melbourne 1.9
Carlton 4.7 (half time 1.5 to 2.3)

Carlton win by 3 goals

Goalkicker: Billy Stiffe 1

Melbourne returned home from an unbeaten trip to Sydney, and were greeted with heavy rain 10 minutes into the game. Even when the sun returned a few minutes later the quality of the match was affected, and the Reds didn't have the legs to go with Carlton.

Despite kicking into a stiff breeze Melbourne had the first good chance of the game, but McDonald missed a shot on goal from close range. They attacked again, but after a lengthy struggle Carlton cleared the ball and got it down the other end where they scored the opening goal of the match.

McDonald missed another good chance, and a period of dominance only registered five behinds for Melbourne, and Carlton asserted their dominance with a second goal and three more behinds from a string of attacks.

Carlton lost Coulthard after he was accidentally kicked behind the ear by Lamrock, and with the advantage got their first goal of the game courtesy of Stiffe converting a kick from a difficult angle.

Despite the rain and wind calming down in the second half the ground was too heavy for a quality match. Carlton got their third goal of the game shortly after the restart and went on to a comfortable win with another goal to Conway.

Best were Aitken, Rannard and McKenzie

Notes
Some sources have the score as 4.8 to 1.8

Media
Argus - 25/07/1881
Geelong Advertiser - 25/07/1881
Australasian - 30/07/1881
Australasian - 30/07/1881