Round 3, 1983
Footscray vs Melbourne
Saturday 9 April
Venue: Western Oval
Attendance: 20,485
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| Footscray | 8.5 | 9.7 | 10.11 | 16.15.111 |
| Melbourne | 2.3 | 4.7 | 8.9 | 11.13.79 |
Footscray win by 32 points
Goalkickers: Tony Elshaug 5, Dale Dickson 2, Adrian Battiston 1, Gerard Healy 1, Alan Jarrott 1, Peter Moore 1
Milestones:
Nil
Coming off a fighting win against the Tigers in Round 2 confidence was high in the Demons camp, and tipsters gave Melbourne every chance against a Bulldogs side who had won the week before but hadn't notched up consecutive victories for six full seasons.
Russell Richards beat Jim Edmond, but the Bulldogs "cheap" imports Purser, Williams and Sewell - whose cumulative $170,000 price tag was almost as much as the Dees had paid the Bulldogs for Kelvin Templeton - dominated around the ground and made sure of a popular home victory.
Purser, in particular, beat Peter Moore convincingly in the first half. When Moore started to wrest back control in the third quarter the Dees surged to within eight points but sapped their energy in the charge and conceded six goals to three with the wind in the last term.
Barassi had a special mention for anyone who had been cocky in the wake of the Richmond victory. He said "The Melbourne Football Club team has got nothing to be confident about". He said his side had five or six good players and nine who were "very ordinary". On the other side Bulldogs fans were so overjoyed they carried coach Ian Hampshire off the ground.
Best were Elshaug, Wilson and O'Donnell. Zantuck suffered a cut eye.
Video
Reserves
Melbourne 14.19.103 d. Footscray 14.11.95
Goals - Cordner 4, Rugolo 3, Bergman 1, Boland 1, Fidge 1, Philby 1, Thomas 1, Withers 1, Wright 1
Best - Boland, Castles, Withers
Under 19s
Melbourne 24.16.160 d. Footscray 8.12.60
Goals - Fidge 9, McCarty 2, Rugolo 2, Louttit 2, Howard 2, Wight 2, McLean 2, Grinter 1, Healy 1, Bailey 1
Best - Louttit, Grinter, Allday
Media
Age - 11/04/1983
Football Record R4 1983