Round 6, 1968
Footscray vs Melbourne
Saturday 18 May
Venue: Western Oval
Attendance: 10,441
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| Footscray | 3.1 | 8.6 | 10.6 | 13.7.85 |
| Melbourne | 1.2 | 2.6 | 6.8 | 6.12.48 |
Footscray win by 37 points
Goalkickers: Barrie Vagg 2, Chris Fowler 1, Tassie Johnson 1, Graham Osborne 1, John Townsend 1
Milestones:
Last game
Geoff Whitton
Stung by criticism after a heavy defeat to Carlton the Bulldogs players took out their frustrations on a hapless Melbourne side who lost Hassa Mann before the bounce with flu and Ross Dillon after ten minutes with a knee injury.
Without their best midfielder and forward they were never going to put a decent score on the board and only managed more than one goal in the third quarter when they put on four. The first time they had the opportunity to use the notorious Western Oval breeze in the first quarter Melbourne had managed just 1.2 - and conceded three.
The third quarter saw them get within ten points but the Dogs regrouped to kick the last two goals of the term and all but assure themselves of victory with the wind in the last.
Best were Davis, Groom and Sullivan. Barrie Vagg was originally selected as Reserve, but was promoted to the starting lineup when Hassa Mann withdrew because of flu. Dowsing moved onto the reserves bench and replaced Townsend (strained knee ligaments) in the last quarter. Dillon was replaced by Stone.
John Beckwith publicly complained about the umpiring, especially a new interpretation of the 15 metre penalty rule designed to stop teams slowing the game down. Beckwith described the umpire's performance as "completely silly", and accusing him of going "to extremes" in adjudicating the penalty.
Reserves
Footscray 14.15 d. Melbourne 4.7
Goals - Smith 1, Lees 1, Osborne 1, Catlin 1
Best - Osborne, Aubrey, Williams
Under 19s
Footscray 9.13 d. Melbourne 8.7
Goals - Mitchell 2, O'Farrell 2, Callery 1, Colcott 1, Emselle 1, Martin 1
Best - Jennings, Curry, Stanton
Media
Football Record R7 1968
Age - 20/05/1968