Round 20, 1998
Port Adelaide vs Melbourne
Sunday 16 August
Venue: Football Park
Attendance: 28,660
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| Port Adelaide | 3.5 | 4.10 | 6.10 | 10.11.71 |
| Melbourne | 1.2 | 3.5 | 9.7 | 14.10.94 |
Melbourne win by 23 points
Goalkickers: David Schwarz 4, Darren Kowal 3, Todd Viney 3, Steven Febey 2, Guy Rigoni 1, Shane Woewodin 1
Brownlow Votes:
3 - Steven Febey
2 - Todd Viney
1 - Stephen Tingay
Best and Fairest
36 - Steven Febey
31 - Stephen Tingay
29 - Todd Viney
18 - David Schwarz
14 - Matthew Febey
Milestones:
200 Games
Steven Febey
With Garry Lyon, Glenn Lovett and Brent Grgic all withdrawn for the selected side, Port played a dominant first half and they should have gone on to win. They were, however, wasteful and in the second half Melbourne found their mojo again.
Early on Warren Tredrea was unbeatable. He smashed Jamie Shanahan and Matthew Bishop before Marcus Seecamp shut him down. Tredrea was the best thing about the first half in a game where perfect conditions couldn't disguise the terrible footy being dished up.
14 scoring shots to eight at half-time and the Power should have been well in front but held a lead of just 11 points. When the Demons kicked the first two goals of the third quarter the Power's confidence was sapped and Port dropped off. The margin stayed relatively close but the home side never got in front again.
The win vaulted Melbourne back above Richmond and into the eight.
Best were Viney, Steven Febey and Tingay.
Neale Daniher said "I thought we were fairly disappointing today. We are under no illusions that we need to play a lot better than that if we want to go further into the season. We were very lethargic at the start of the game. Possibly it was Port's poor kicking that kept us in it".
Reserves
Melbourne 23.13.151 d. Geelong 10.14.74
Goals - Brown 7, Nettelbeck 6, Smith 5, Cann 2, Smoker 1, Anderson 1, Cockatoo-Collins 1
Best - Nicholson, Nettelbeck, Brown
Media
Age - 17/08/1998
Football Record R21 1998