Round 4, 1984
Melbourne vs Essendon
Saturday 21 April
Venue: Waverley
Attendance: 31,535
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| Melbourne | 2.1 | 5.2 | 7.2 | 14.7.91 |
| Essendon | 3.11 | 8.15 | 12.22 | 17.24.126 |
Essendon win by 35 points
Goalkickers: John Fidge 4, Robert Flower 4, Chris Connolly 1, Danny Hughes 1, Greg Hutchison 1, Kelly O'Donnell 1, Kelvin Templeton 1, Peter Thorne 1
Brownlow Votes:
Nil
Milestones:
First Game
John Fidge (and first goal)
Mark Withers
Last Game
Greg Hutchison
Last MFC Game
Glenn McLean
The Demons bounded out onto the VFL Park turf with energy, looking like they were ready to play a big game but within fifteen minutes of the first bounce the Bombers had made their superiority clear and were never headed again.
Only a string of injuries and wayward kicking stopped the result from blowing out into a massacre. Matched up against Steven Smith, Paul Salmon booted 4.7 and rover Tony Buhagiar racked up 4.5 en route to a solid head-to-head victory over Adrian Battiston. Salmon's first goal came after three behinds and one out of bounds on the full.
The Essendon defenders cleared the ball out of their backline easily, and it was often these unchecked runs to the centre which set up their scores. Kelvin Templeton was dragged at three-quarter time for letting his opponents run off him easily time and time again.
A debutant, 17-year-old John Fidge was the highlight for the Demons, booting four goals on debut while Kelvin Templeton was held to one and was replaced by Peter Moore at three quarter time.
Best were Fidge, Flower and O'Donnell. Gerard Healy was carried off with a knee injury in the last quarter. It was a bruised knee and he recovered to play the next week.
Reserves
Essendon 15.13.103 d. Melbourne 11.10.76
Goals - Cordner 4, Healy 2, Hutchison 2, Kol 1, Castles 1, Williams 1
Best - Healy, Cordner and Louttit
Under 19s
Melbourne 12.13.85 d. Essendon 3.13.31
Goals - Howard 3, Payne 3, Nichols 2, Edwards 2, Grinter 1, Lyon 1
Best - Mazurek, K. Cross, Nichols
Media
Canberra Times - 21/04/1984
Canberra Times - 22/04/1984
Age - 23/04/1984
Football Record R5 1984