Saturday 31 July - South Melbourne Cricket Ground
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| South Melbourne | 1.5 | 4.10 | 4.12 | 6.14 |
| Melbourne | 0.1 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.4 |
South Melbourne win by 5 goals
Goalkicker: Lynar 1
In front of a large crowd, Melbourne lost their third game in a row as they were thumped by the home team. South got the first goal of the game and restricted Melbourne to a solitary behind in the first quarter. The damage could have been greater if Melbourne's defenders hadn't held South out on multiple occasions.
Melbourne got the equaliser not long after the start of the second quarter, but it was the end of them for the half. South dominated from there and the handful of Reds who were playing well were being outnumbered by teammates who were poor. By half time the score was four goals to one.
At the start of the second half Melbourne had several efforts on goal, none of which resulted in a major, and South got to the last quarter with their three goal buffer intact after neither side kicked a goal during the term.
The visitors failed to score a goal in the last quarter and South ran away with victory, adding two more goals. Melbourne continued to play a fast game and were unlucky that one of South's goals went through from a fluky kick.
Best were Kelly, Murphy and Tuckfield.
Notes
Some sources have Melbourne on 1.2 at full time.
Media
The Argus - 02/08/1886
The Australasian - 07/08/1886