Round 13, 1963
Hawthorn vs Melbourne
Saturday 3 August
Venue: Glenferrie Oval
Attendance: 24,000
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| Hawthorn | 1.3 | 7.5 | 9.6 | 13.6.84 |
| Melbourne | 3.3 | 6.4 | 6.9 | 8.14.62 |
Hawthorn win by 22 points
Goalkickers: Barry Bourke 3, Frank Adams 1, Ron Barassi 1, Brian Dixon 1, Ken Emselle 1, Robert Miller 1
Milestones:
Nil
After fighting back from outside the four with five straight wins, the Demons hit a roadblock at Glenferrie Oval. While they had been in good form, Hawthorn were poor in losing to Essendon the previous week. With both sides on eight wins for the season the Demons held a vastly superior percentage, but still slipped behind the Hawks on the ladder with their loss. On a wet day made for crowded play, Melbourne couldn't match the home side's attack on the ball, and the Hawks also used direct methods to get the ball into attack efficiently.
After being behind by 12 points at quarter time Hawthorn took over with relentless pressure. They were seven points in front at half time, and when they held Melbourne to five straight behinds in the third quarter they were in a winning position. Melbourne couldn't fight back, and with Ron Barassi amusing the crowd by kicking the ball in the wrong direction during the last quarter, nothing was going right for the Demons who were right back in the pack trying to finish in the four.
Hawthorn used height to their advantage, playing five ruckmen, and had a better forward line. The first quarter saw the ball regularly going out of play on the narrow ground, with 26 boundary throw ins in the first 20 minutes. Once the game opened up Hawthorn improved. During the second quarter the umpire refused to restart the game with a bounce until Melbourne's runner left the ground, which prompted Norm Smith to gesture at him from the boundary line to get the game going again.
The Hawks were seven points up at the half, but came out of the sheds as the better side. After a number of attacks were turned back early the got the first goal. Down the other end, the Demons were struggling to break through Hawthorn's defence. Melbourne went without a goal for the term, conceding 2.1 to 0.5, starting the last quarter 15 points in arrears. Two early behinds to Emselle in the final term were missed opportunities to reduce the gap to single figures, before Hawthorn kicked a steadier.
Melbourne never got within 10 and were beaten, sinking to fourth on percentage, ahead of St Kilda, with Carlton a game further back. Their superior percentage was almost like an extra game break on the Saints, but they were due to play the top of the table Essendon the next Saturday in one of the games of the year so their position was still vulnerable.
Best were Emselle, Groom and Peck. Dawson replaced Roet (leg) in the third quarter and Robbie was an unused reserve.
Scoring
Bourke 3, Adams 1, Barassi 1.1, Dixon 1.2, Emselle 1.2, Miller 1, Groom 0.1, Mann 0.2, Vagg 0.2, Rushed 0.4
Reserves
Hawthorn 10.13 d. Melbourne 7.8
Goals - McNabb 3, Calverley 2, Rattray 1, Zinko 1
Best - Nilssen, Johnston, Read
Under 19s
Melbourne 17.11 d. Hawthorn 8.9
Goals - Stone 5, Jacobs 3, Leahy 2, Mounter 2, Harrison 2, Snell 1, Witomski 1, Holland 1
Best - Jacobs, Mounter, Brodie
Media
Age - 03/08/1963
Sun - 03/08/1963
Sporting Globe - 03/08/1963
Age - 05/08/1963
Herald - 05/08/1963
Football Record R14 1963