Round 10, 1938
Richmond vs Melbourne
Saturday 25 June
Venue: Punt Road
Attendance: 23,000
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| Richmond | 0.4 | 4.10 | 9.11 | 12.17.89 |
| Melbourne | 3.2 | 6.3 | 8.5 | 10.8.68 |
Richmond win by 21 points
Goalkickers: Lou Reiffel 5, Norm Smith 2, Eric Glass 1, Allan La Fontaine 1, Jack Mueller 1
Milestones:
Nil
Fourth-placed Richmond welcomed second-placed Melbourne to Punt Road and struck a blow in the battle for the top four. The quality of the surface didn't match the importance of the game, with the centre of Punt Road wrecked by heavy rain. Both sides were impacted by the conditions, but after a poor start the Tigers handled them better and won comfortably.
Melbourne gained an early advantage by being quicker across the wet ground - though both sides tried to void the centre of the ground as much as possible - and kicked the first three goals. A 16 point quarter time lead was reduced to five at the long break. By now their ruck was being well beaten and their forward line was struggling. The move of Jack Mueller from the half-forward flank to centre-half forward and Norm Smith to half-forward caused confusion and further restricted their scoring power.
The home side grabbed a 12 point lead at the last change. In a desperate attempt to find some structure, Checker Hughes threw Mueller into the ruck for the fourth quarter, but to no avail. When the Tigers got the first goal of the last quarter the game was all but done. A set shot from Murnane might have opened the door for a Demon comeback but he missed. Smith got one soon after, but it was immediately cancelled out by Richmond, who extended the final margin to 21 and climbed above Melbourne and into second on percentage. Richmond won the free kick count 54-37 and the Melbourne camp complained about inconsistency in the decisions.
With a difficult run in the next few weeks the Demons' place in the finals was all of a sudden in jeopardy.
Best were Reiffel, Lock and Beames. Maher was unused 19th man.
Seconds
Melbourne 9.10 drew Richmond 9.10
Goals - Allsop 3, Neenan 2, Wallace 1, Adams 1, Tough 1, Harley 1
Best - Meehl, Regan, Kinnear
Media
Sporting Globe - 22/06/1938
Herald - 25/06/1938
Sporting Globe - 25/06/1938
Argus - 27/06/1938
Argus - 27/06/1938=
Australasian - 02/07/1938
Football Record R11 1938