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, Essendon, Fitzroy, Geelong and South Melbourne to form a breakaway competition from the VFA, inviting Carlton and St Kilda to make up the eight team Victorian Football League Despite the most even competition in many years, 1896 saw declining attendances and debate about changing rules to improve the game, and the new competition counted behinds in scores, forcing players to kick the ball 10 yards before a mark was counted, and allowing pushing in the back. The new push in the back rule proved controversial in Round 1 and was reversed before Round 2.
The Redlegs entered the competition years of good form but lost 13 of their 1896 squad, including future Australian Football Hall of Famer David Christy, who went to Western Australia. They won six games in a row at the start of the year and finished third on the ladder, but with their depth tested by injuries they narrowly lost all three games of the top four round robin finals. The format for the finals series wasn't determined until the four competing teams were decided, with the league opting for a round robin competition where the top team would premiers, with a playoff if two sides were tied.
Essendon beat Melbourne in the last game 1.8 to 0.8 in the lowest scoring finals game ever, securing the league premiership without needing to play Geelong in what would have been the first VFL Grand Final.
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
Some sources say a charity exhibition match against Collingwood on Saturday 14 August was called off because of heavy rain, and the loss of a week's play allowed the league to change the finals format from a knockout to a round robin starting the following week.
Media
Australasian - 03/10/1896
Table Talk - 30/04/1897
Oakleigh Leader - 01/05/1897
Australasian - 22/05/1897
Argus - 18/08/1897