Round 13, 1998
Melbourne vs St. Kilda
Sunday 21 June
Venue: MCG
Attendance: 35,055
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| Melbourne | 0.2 | 2.5 | 2.9 | 5.12.42 |
| St. Kilda | 4.6 | 11.8 | 16.11 | 19.13.127 |
St. Kilda win by 85 points
Goalkickers: Matthew Bishop 1, Brent Grgic 1, Travis Johnstone 1, Anthony McDonald 1, Craig Smoker 1
Brownlow votes:
Nil
Best and Fairest
25 - Adem Yze
21 - Shane Woewodin
18 - Paul Hopgood
17 - Andrew Leoncelli
14 - Anthony Ingerson
14 - Jim Stynes
Milestones:
Nil
Running on heavy legs in their third straight game played in soaking wet conditions, was almost as bad as they had been the previous week against Geelong. Neale Daniher called his side to regain their "passion for the contest", but saw them thrashed again. This time by top of the table Saints, toppling out of the eight. After their 5-1 start to the season, it looked like injury and suspension had ruined their season. On average the Demons side was heavier and taller, and had just 13 games less experience than the Saints but the stats were misleading as Melbourne had eight players with less than 20 games experience against St Kilda's two.
After another goalless first quarter, Melbourne managed two in the before half time but the match was already out of their grasp. St Kilda led by 57 points and a huge win was on the cards, but for the second week in a row Melbourne avoided being blown out in the second half. They had almost a hundred fewer disposals than the Saints, leaving the backline under siege for most of the day.
Best were Yze, Leoncelli and Smoker. Jim Stynes injured the medial ligament in his left knee and was expected to be out for six weeks but only missed one game.
Neale Daniher said: "We were pretty honest early but we didn't get any score in teh first 15 minutes and I thought our confidence really dropped off". He said his team was "a little shell-shocked" from their back-to-back thrashings.
Things didn't get any easier, the next game was against West Coast at Subiaco, where they hadn't won since 1990.
Video
Reserves
Melbourne 14.14.98 d. St Kilda 9.13.67
Goals - B. Willams 5, Tingay 2, Beams 2, J.McDonald 1, Nicholson 1, Anderson 1, Nettlebeck 1, Robertson 1
Best - Tingay, Cockatoo-Collins, Ottens
Media
Age - 21/06/1998, 22/06/1998
Football Record - R14 1998