Coach: N/A
Captain: Ned Sutton
Finishing Position: 4th
Best and Fairest: N/A
Leading Goalkicker: Jack Leith (22)
| Matches | Ladder | Playing List | |||
Melbourne joined Collingwood, South Melbourne, Essendon, Fitzroy, Geelong, St Kilda and Carlton in breaking away from the VFA to form a new competition. Throughout season 1896 there had been much talk of rule changes to 'save football' as attendances fell despite the most even competition in many years.
Changes for the first season of the VFL included reducing teams to 18 players a side, introducing the "behind" as a score, allowing the push in the back and forcing players to kick the ball 10 yards for a mark. After the new push in the back rule proved disappointing on the first day of the season the league delegates met before Round 2 and reversed their stance.
Before the season began the Redlegs lost 13 of their 1896 side to other clubs, most of them following David Christy to Western Australia.
With only five of the eight teams serious finals contenders Melbourne finished third comfortably, but lost all three of their finals games to finish at the bottom of the premiership playoff ladder. Suffering from injuries they lost to Collingwood, Geelong and Essendon by 2, 9 and 6 points respectively - with the 1.8 to 0.8 margin in the last game standing forever as the lowest scoring finals match.
The Fuschias played their part in VFL history by losing to Essendon in the last sectional final and handing their opponents the premiership without the need for a playoff. Had they won Geelong would have faced Essendon in the first ever "Grand Final".
A charity exhibition match was meant to be played against Collingwood on Saturday 14 August but the game was called off due to heavy rain. The cancellation of that weekend's games allowed the league to make a late change to the way that the premiership would be decided, having a four team round robin instead of a knockout as previously planned.
Practice Match
| Opposition | Result | Score | |||
| Brighton | WIN | 36-33 | |||
| Combined Schools | ? | ||||
Premiership Season
| Round | Opposition | Result | Score | ||
| 1 | South Melbourne | WIN | 44-27 | ||
| 2 | Geelong | WIN | 64-19 | ||
| 3 | Fitzroy | WIN | 50-39 | ||
| 4 | St. Kilda | WIN | 76-46 | ||
| 5 | Carlton | WIN | 107-26 | ||
| 6 | Collingwood | WIN | 33-26 | ||
| 7 | Essendon | LOSS | 27-63 | ||
| 8 | South Melbourne | LOSS | 20-73 | ||
| 9 | Geelong | LOSS | 10-15 | ||
| 10 | Fitzroy | WIN | 53-26 | ||
| 11 | St. Kilda | WIN | 71-13 | ||
| 12 | Carlton | WIN | 46-18 | ||
| 13 | Collingwood | LOSS | 28-43 | ||
| 14 | Essendon | WIN | 56-39 | ||
| SF1 | Collingwood | LOSS | 47-51 | ||
| SF2 | Geelong | LOSS | 37-46 | ||
| SF3 | Essendon | LOSS | 8-14 | ||
Ladder
| W | D | L | % | P | |
| Geelong | 11 | 0 | 3 | 184.3 | 44 |
| Essendon | 11 | 0 | 3 | 159.0 | 44 |
| Melbourne | 10 | 0 | 4 | 144.8 | 40 |
| Collingwood | 9 | 0 | 5 | 113.9 | 36 |
| South Melbourne | 8 | 1 | 5 | 138.1 | 34 |
| Fitzroy | 4 | 1 | 9 | 104.7 | 18 |
| Carlton | 2 | 0 | 12 | 51.2 | 8 |
| St. Kilda | 0 | 0 | 14 | 29.1 | 0 |
Finals Ladder
| W | D | L | % | P | |
| Essendon | 3 | 0 | 0 | 177.6 | 12 |
| Geelong | 2 | 0 | 1 | 105.8 | 8 |
| Collingwood | 1 | 0 | 2 | 76.3 | 4 |
| Melbourne | 0 | 0 | 3 | 82.9 | 0 |
Playing List
| Games | Goals | ||||
| Fred Blackham | 2 | 0 | |||
| Tom Crawford | 1 | 0 | |||
| Herbert Fry | 5 | 1 | |||
| Stewart Geddes | 7 | 2 | |||
| Jack Godby | 1 | 0 | |||
| Charlie Goding | 4 | 1 | |||
| Jack Graham | 2 | 1 | |||
| Alf Healing | 10 | 1 | |||
| Maurie Herring | 15 | 1 | |||
| Harry Hughes | 2 | 0 | |||
| Edwin Jenkyn | 17 | 2 | |||
| George Johnstone | 3 | 0 | |||
| Arthur Kirk | 1 | 0 | |||
| Jack Leith | 17 | 26 | |||
| Austin Lewis | 17 | 2 | |||
| Walter Lyon | 1 | 0 | |||
| Lew Massey | 8 | 1 | |||
| Jim McCoy | 1 | 0 | |||
| Bill McCulloch | 9 | 7 | |||
| Fred McGinis | 17 | 10 | |||
| Norm McLeod | 14 | 0 | |||
| Henry Mitchell | 15 | 1 | |||
| George Moodie | 15 | 12 | |||
| George Moysey | 17 | 2 | |||
| Alex Murdoch | 1 | 0 | |||
| Bert Robinson | 13 | 2 | |||
| Jimmy Russell | 1 | 0 | |||
| Fred Sheahan | 16 | 0 | |||
| Eddie Sholl | 6 | 0 | |||
| Wally Steele | 12 | 9 | |||
| Dave Strahan | 12 | 0 | |||
| Ned Sutton | 17 | 0 | |||
| John Timothee | 6 | 1 | |||
| Dick Wardill | 11 | 4 | |||
| Bert Watson | 11 | 0 | |||
| Alf Wood | 16 | 2 | |||
| Charlie Young | 16 | 14 | |||
Notes
The 14 August game may have been originally intended for premiership points
Media
Australasian - 03/10/1896
Table Talk - 30/04/1897
Oakleigh Leader - 01/05/1897
Australasian - 22/05/1897
Argus - 18/08/1897