Round 21, 1972
Melbourne vs North Melbourne
Saturday 26 August
Venue: MCG
Attendance: 11,241
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| Melbourne | 3.5 | 8.8 | 9.18 | 17.22.124 |
| North Melbourne | 5.4 | 8.5 | 11.6 | 14.7.91 |
Melbourne win by 33 points
Goalkickers: Gary Hardeman 4, Greg Parke 4, Greg Wells 3, Paul Callery 2, Stan Alves 1, Graham Molloy 1, Henry Ritterman 1, John Tilbrook 1
Milestones:
Last Game
Robert McKenzie
Melbourne's season had come to an end weeks before but in front of a small MCG crowd they still had to negotiate a potential banana skin against Brian Dixon and the 1-19 Kangaroos. Dixon was already on the way out of Arden Street and in his last coaching engagement at the ground his charges nearly pulled off the shock victory.
With the scores even at three quarter time, albeit only because of Melbourne's absymal 1.10 third quarter, Ian Ridley unleashed two positional moves which helped win the day. Both Stan Alves and Greg Wells had been thrashed all day but the move of Alves to a half-forward flank and Wells into a forward pocket were winners. With Gary Hardeman sparking at full-forward the Demons took over 10 minutes into the last and slammed on eight goals to spare the blushes of losing to lowly North.
Best were Hardeman, Callery and Biffin
Notes
The reserves were probably Tilbrook and Williamson.
Reserves
Melbourne 19.36 d. North Melbourne 9.7
Goals - Harrold 7, Dilnot 2, McSpeerin 2, Sinclair 2, Clark 2, Yeo 1, Collins 1, Reid 1, C. Anderson 1
Best - Gallus, Dilnot, Harrold
Under 19s
North Melbourne 16.12 drew Melbourne 15.18
Goals - Ptter 5, Tesoriero 4, Giampaolo 2, McMullin 2, R. Macdonald 1, Slade 1
Best - Potter, Giampaolo, Tesoriero
Media
Age - 28/08/1972
Inside Football - 02/09/1972
Football Record R22 1972