Captain - Coach: Bert Chadwick
Finishing Position: 3rd
Best and Fairest: n/a
Leading Goalkicker: Harry Davie (56)
Best First Year Player: n/a
Members: 1171
Matches | Ladder | Playing List | Seconds |
The VFL expanded for the first time since 1908, with Footscray, Hawthorn and North Melbourne joining from the VFA. With recruiting zones affected by the new teams, Melbourne was given a temporary new zone of the Lonsdale, Latrobe, Gipps and Albert Wards of the City of Melbourne, as well as the City of Prahran.
The Australasian Football Council forced a rule change on the league, abolishing the boundary throw-in and paying a free kick against the last player to touch the ball before it went out of play. Another rule change mandated that only one man could stand on the mark at any time.
Before the season, fans proposed an alteration to MCC rules that would give the club its own president, vice-President and committee, instead of them being elected at the MCC's annual meeting. The proposal did not achieve the necessary 75% support of MCC members and was lost. Commitee elections saw GG Coulter (264 votes), SER Church (248), HD Westley (231), WFV Sykes (228), WJ Findley (226), H. Parkin (214) and FW Ince (202) elected.
On Saturday 18 April, an intra-club game was played between the senior side and Juniors. Under new playing coach Bert Chadwick it kicked off a year that saw Melbourne return to the finals for the first time in a decade. They nearly blew their chance with a shock loss to North Melbourne in the second last game, but recovered to defeat Richmond in the final round and qualify. Struggling with injuries, they were comfortably beaten by a Collingwood side that finished half a game behind them on the ladder. In gratitude for their breakthrough season, the MCC committee paid each player a five pound bonus.
After Melbourne's Round 12 victory over St Kilda the Seasiders put in a protest that they should have been awarded the points as Gerry Donnelly wasn't eligible to play for the Redlegs as he was residentially tied to North Melbourne. The VFL dismissed the protest but made Donnelly join North.
Melbourne won their first final, but were crippled by the loss of a number of players to injury and were defeated in the Preliminary Final.
Secretary Andrew Manzie was chosen as the VFL's delegate to the AFC. Bill McClelland and Manzie were Melbourne's delegates to the VFL.
Premiership season
Round | Opposition | Result | Score | ||
1 | St. Kilda | WIN | 73-26 | ||
2 | Collingwood | LOSS | 54-71 | ||
3 | Carlton | WIN | 84-38 | ||
4 | Footscray | WIN | 70-42 | ||
5 | North Melbourne | WIN | 85-65 | ||
6 | Richmond | DRAW | 70-70 | ||
7 | Fitzroy | WIN | 83-45 | ||
8 | South Melbourne | WIN | 100-54 | ||
9 | Geelong | LOSS | 75-99 | ||
10 | Essendon | WIN | 55-38 | ||
11 | Hawthorn | WIN | 102-46 | ||
12 | St. Kilda | WIN | 70-51 | ||
13 | Collingwood | LOSS | 52-65 | ||
14 | Carlton | WIN | 122-45 | ||
15 | Footscray | WIN | 69-67 | ||
16 | North Melbourne | LOSS | 46-73 | ||
17 | Richmond | WIN | 63-24 | ||
SF | Geelong | WIN | 101-86 | ||
PF | Collingwood | LOSS | 26-63 |
Ladder
W | D | L | % | P | |
Geelong | 15 | 0 | 2 | 152.7 | 60 |
Essendon | 13 | 0 | 4 | 119.3 | 52 |
Melbourne | 12 | 1 | 4 | 138.5 | 50 |
Collingwood | 12 | 0 | 5 | 127.1 | 48 |
Fitzroy | 12 | 0 | 5 | 125.7 | 48 |
St. Kilda | 8 | 0 | 9 | 99.6 | 32 |
Richmond | 6 | 1 | 10 | 86.7 | 26 |
South Melbourne | 6 | 0 | 11 | 85.7 | 24 |
Carlton | 5 | 0 | 12 | 79.0 | 20 |
North Melbourne | 5 | 0 | 12 | 75.2 | 20 |
Footscray | 4 | 0 | 13 | 82.7 | 16 |
Hawthorn | 3 | 0 | 14 | 66.1 | 12 |
Playing list
Number | Player | Games | Goals | ||
1 | Stan Wittman | 19 | 22 | ||
2 | Clarrie Wyatt | 1 | 0 | ||
3 | Ted Thomas | 15 | 0 | ||
5 | Gerry Donnelly | 12 | 4 | ||
6 | Ted Parker | 1 | 0 | ||
7 | Frank Jorgensen | 10 | 1 | ||
8 | Charlie Lilley | 6 | 0 | ||
9 | Charlie Streeter | 17 | 0 | ||
10 | Jack Collins | 19 | 0 | ||
11 | Carlyle Jones | 1 | 2 | ||
12 | Bob Corbett | 19 | 2 | ||
14 | Ivor Warne-Smith | 18 | 7 | ||
15 | George Haines | 19 | 5 | ||
16 | Derek Mollison | 19 | 9 | ||
17 | Bert Chadwick | 18 | 1 | ||
18 | Percy Tulloh | 7 | 12 | ||
19 | Harry Coy | 19 | 0 | ||
20 | Alf Wilson | 3 | 0 | ||
20 | Bill Shelton | 4 | 1 | ||
21 | Bobby Ewer | 1 | 0 | ||
22 | Harry Moyes | 12 | 26 | ||
23 | Frank Richardson | 2 | 0 | ||
24 | Harry Davie | 19 | 56 | ||
25 | Jimmy Sullivan | 6 | 0 | ||
26 | Max Wright | 1 | 0 | ||
26 | Bill Tymms | 2 | 1 | ||
28 | Hugh Dunbar | 19 | 4 | ||
29 | Jimmy Davidson | 13 | 7 | ||
31 | Col Deane | 16 | 21 | ||
33 | Jack Cannan | 5 | 8 | ||
35 | Richard Taylor | 19 | 5 |
Awards
Most Consistent - Bob Corbett
Seconds
P | |||||
Collingwood | 64 | ||||
South Melbourne | 52 | ||||
Fitzroy | 52 | ||||
Carlton | 52 | ||||
Richmond | 40 | ||||
Geelong | 34 | ||||
Essendon | 32 | ||||
St Kilda | 28 | ||||
Footscray | 20 | ||||
North Melbourne | 16 | ||||
Melbourne | 8 | ||||
Hawthorn | 8 |
Media
Argus - 20/01/1925
Richmond Guardian - 24/01/1925
Argus - 29/01/1925
Sun - 13/02/1925
Herald - 17/04/1925
Herald - 24/04/1925
Argus - 27/04/1925
Sun - 22/09/1925
Argus - 04/03/1926