Round 1, 1904
St. Kilda vs Melbourne
Saturday 7 May
Venue: Junction Oval
Attendance: Unknown
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| St. Kilda | 2.2 | 4.6 | 5.8 | 12.13.85 |
| Melbourne | 1.4 | 3.6 | 4.9 | 5.9.39 |
St. Kilda win by 46 points
Goalkickers: Jim Conquest 1, Vin Coutie 1, Ted Leach 1, Bernie Nolan 1, Jack Strong 1
Milestones:
First Game
Jim Conquest (also first goal)
Bernie Nolan (also first goal)
Hugh Purse
Lionel Smale
Ernie Vollugi
First MFC Game
Ted Leach
Only MFC Game
Tom Watson
St Kilda entered the new season with a more settled side that had just three debutantes - including ex-Redleg Tommy Ryan - while Melbourne were blooding five league debutantes and two new players from other clubs. For the first game of the season Melbourne surprisingly entered with five players already bandaged up, and the locals kept their nose in front for the first three quarters before kicking away in the last.
After only kicked one goal with the wind late in the first quarter Melbourne then conceded two quickly in the second and it looked like St Kilda were going to run away with the game - but from then the Redlegs put in a faultless performance kicking into the breeze to cut the margin to one goal at half time.
Melbourne were unlucky in the third quarter, with a number of shots falling just short and even though they were the better side they only narrowed the margin by a point. With the wind dying away late in the day it seemed a close finish was on the cards but then the locals kicked six early in the quarter to finish their opponents off.
Best were Langley, Mills and Conquest.
Notes
Argus suggested there were eight new players.
Media
Herald - 07/05/1904
Argus - 09/05/1904
Australasian - 14/05/1904
Weekly Times - 14/05/1904