Round 1, 1956
Richmond vs Melbourne
Saturday 14 April
Venue: Punt Road
Attendance: 25,000
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| Richmond | 2.1 | 4.4 | 5.4 | 8.7.55 |
| Melbourne | 4.6 | 6.8 | 10.14 | 12.16.88 |
Melbourne win by 33 points
Goalkickers: Robert B Johnson 3, Stuart Spencer 3, Ron Barassi 2, Laurie Mithen 2, Ralph Lane 1, Ian Ridley 1
Milestones:
Nil
The Demons opened their premiership defence on the road, with the MCG not suitably recovered from off-season works, the club requested to play their opening game at Punt Road.
Melbourne battled hard with the Tigers in the first half before their dominance in the middle of the ground, at half-forward and in the rucks helped them to eventually run away to an easy victory. At first they'd had trouble breaking through tight congestion.
Neither side's forward line impressed, with the Demons centre half-forward Clyde Laidlaw beaten comfortably and Athol Webb rarely seen at full-forward but the half-forward flanks picked up the slack and goals came through both rovers and resting ruckmen.
Melbourne had a strong wind in the first quarter and until Ron Barassi kicked two goals late in the term they hadn't made appropriate use of it. They then managed to restrict Richmond's win in the second quarter to one point and after half-time they ran away with victory.
Best were Melville, Barassi and Lane. Dixon replaced McMahen (cramp) and Gleeson replaced Cordner (ankle) during the match.
Norm Smith said "We were slow to settle down, and we fumbled quite a lot due to an overanxious approach to the game. Most unusually, players fought each other for the ball at times." He said that he told players to kick long after half time due to the strong wind.
Seconds
Melbourne 16.17 d. Richmond 10.15
Goals - Bull 6, Unknown 11
Best - Bull, Tossol, Pinfold
Thirds
Richmond 9.12 d. Melbourne 8.8
Media
Argus - 16/04/1956
Age - 16/04/1956
Argus - 16/04/1956