Round 9, 1965
Melbourne vs St. Kilda
Monday 14 June
Venue: MCG
Attendance: 72,114
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| Melbourne | 4.1 | 6.4 | 7.6 | 9.7.61 |
| St. Kilda | 6.3 | 8.7 | 11.11 | 18.14.122 |
St. Kilda win by 61 points
Goalkickers: Ken Emselle 3, John Townsend 3, John Lord 2, Barrie Vagg 1
Milestones:
Nil
Having won every game to that point of the season, and with Norm Smith besting Ron Barassi in their first coaching dual the week before the Demons were riding high until the moment the ball was bounced at the MCG.
Two games behind on the ladder when the day began, the Saints played quick, ruthless football, and kicked six goals to four in the first quarter. St Kilda swapped their full-back and full-forward successfully, but every move that Norm Smith made seemed to go wrong. The margin was out to 29 points at the last change and St Kilda never took their foot off the gas, running out the last quarter like the scores were close.
The result represented the worst loss of Smith's coaching career to that point and signalled the beginning of the end of the Demons era of dominance and the start of a 23 year nightmare run of finishing outside of the finals. Less than a month later Smith would have been sacked and reinstated and Melbourne's nightmare had well and truly begun.
Best were Townsend, Emselle and Crompton. Jacobs was replaced by Bromell at half time.
Reserves
Melbourne 9.12 d. St Kilda 9.11
Goals - Robbie 2, Gallus 2, Quirk 2, Slade 1, Watson 1, Jones 1
Best - Leitch, Robbie, Foster
Under 19s
St Kilda 13.12 d. Melbourne 11.17
Goals - Stone 6, Dowsing 3, Bates 1, Johnson
Best - Stone, Dowsing, Griffiths
Media
Football Record R10 1965
Age - 14/06/1965
Age - 15/06/1965
Canberra Times - 15/06/1965
Age - 16/06/1965