Round 2, 1897
Melbourne vs Geelong
Saturday 15 May
Venue: MCG
Attendance: Unknown
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| Melbourne | 3.2 | 5.4 | 9.7 | 9.10.64 |
| Geelong | 0.0 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 3.1.19 |
Melbourne win by 43 points
Goalkickers: Jack Leith 4, Herbert Fry 1, Charlie Goding 1, Maurie Herring 1, Henry Mitchell 1, George Moysey 1
Milestones:
First game
Maurie Herring (also first goal)
Dave Strahan
Last game
Fred Blackham
First goal
Herbert Fry (2nd game)
Charlie Goding (2nd game)
Henry Mitchell (2nd game)
George Moysey (2nd game)
Despite winning their first match in the new competition, Melbourne blooded two more new players in their second and were comfortable winners again.
In their first league game on the MCG, the home side strangled Geelong and restricted them to one goal for the first three quarters. The visitors put two goals on the board in the last quarter to keep things respectable but were still well beaten. It hadn't helped that they'd been forced to leave a number of their better players at home on the day.
On a hard but slippery ground the two sides had trouble with their footing, but with Geelong beaten in all aspects of the match other than in high marking they were unable to put together a reasonable score when the game was there to be won. Melbourne's running, passing and kicking was far superior and they managed to open up a 26 point lead at half time despite aiming for Jack Leith too often when he was covered.
Their defenders constantly repelled attacks by Geelong, who had been forced to bring in two emergencies just before the side left for Melbourne, and the lead was up to 54 points before the visitors belatedly cut the margin in the final term
Goding, Leath and Herring were best.
Lists
Scoreless first quarters
Media
Argus - 17/05/1897
Age - 17/03/1897
Australasian - 22/05/1897