Captain - Coach: Ivor Warne-Smith
Finishing Position: 3rd
Best and Fairest: n/a
Leading Goalkicker: Robert C Johnson (55)
Best First Year Player: n/a
| Matches | Ladder | Playing list | Tribunal | Seconds | |
After a breakthrough premiership in 1926, Melbourne's premiership defence was affected by injury and illness and they missed the finals. At the club's annual meeting a support criticised the availability of replacements for injured players. The club countered that they'd been unlucky with injuries, but later expanded the list of available reserve players. At the same meeting, Fred Ince was elected to the new committee on the casting vote of meeting chairman Edward Cordner after tying with Mr. CM McBean. Other successful were GG Coulter, F. Ince, H. Parkin, JO Smith, CH. Lilley and J. Watson, defeating JA Henty Wilson and GH Watson. FH Mendoza and Gordon Sleight represented football club members.
CH Lilley, H. Parkin, JO Smith, JA Henty Wilson and GH Watson for MCC Members and
MCG matches were played against the backdrop of an £80,000 grandstand renovation.
The major rule change of the season was that players who were tackled had to be held before they were compelled to drop the ball, increasing the pace of the game.
Under new coach Ivor Warne-Smith, Melbourne put the disappointment of 1927 behind them to start the year with eight wins. Six of their first 10 wins came by two goals or less, and when form dropped off late in the year they fell to third. A protest was filed about the Round 17 loss where St Kilda kicked the winning goal after the siren. The protest was dismissed because the umpire hadn't heard the bell, leaving them having to play minor premiers Collingwood in the Semi Final. There was more umpiring controversy that day, with the Pies snapping a point after the three quarter time bell. The game went on to be the first drawn VFL final, before (Collingwood prevailed in a replay.
At the end of the season Richard Taylor received a payment for playing 100 consecutive games, Bill Tymms a trophy for his play in the Semi Final and secretary Andrew Manzie a trophy from the VFL team he had taken to Bendigo.
Gordon Coulter replaced Harry Parkin as one of Melbourne's VFL delegates.
Premiership season
| Round | Opposition | Result | |||
| 1 | Essendon | WIN | 85-72 | ||
| 2 | Geelong | WIN | 47-40 | ||
| 3 | Fitzroy | WIN | 118-84 | ||
| 4 | Richmond | WIN | 55-51 | ||
| 5 | Hawthorn | WIN | 110-101 | ||
| 6 | St. Kilda | WIN | 86-74 | ||
| 7 | North Melbourne | WIN | 100-37 | ||
| 8 | Carlton | WIN | 74-64 | ||
| 9 | Collingwood | LOSS | 80-92 | ||
| 10 | South Melbourne | WIN | 90-78 | ||
| 11 | Footscray | WIN | 68-56 | ||
| 12 | Essendon | LOSS | 67-89 | ||
| 13 | Geelong | WIN | 55-51 | ||
| 14 | Fitzroy | WIN | 126-79 | ||
| 15 | Richmond | LOSS | 50-79 | ||
| 16 | Hawthorn | WIN | 88-64 | ||
| 17 | St. Kilda | LOSS | 81-82 | ||
| 18 | North Melbourne | WIN | 127-40 | ||
| SF | Collingwood | DRAW | 62-62 | ||
| SF-R | Collingwood | LOSS | 64-68 | ||
Ladder
| W | D | L | % | P | |
| Collingwood | 15 | 0 | 3 | 134.6 | 60 |
| Richmond | 14 | 0 | 4 | 133.6 | 56 |
| Melbourne | 14 | 0 | 4 | 122.2 | 56 |
| Carlton | 11 | 0 | 7 | 121.4 | 44 |
| Essendon | 11 | 0 | 7 | 113.0 | 44 |
| St. Kilda | 11 | 0 | 7 | 102.0 | 44 |
| Footscray | 9 | 0 | 9 | 109.3 | 36 |
| Fitzroy | 7 | 0 | 11 | 88.4 | 28 |
| Geelong | 6 | 0 | 12 | 99.5 | 24 |
| South Melbourne | 5 | 0 | 13 | 85.5 | 20 |
| North Melbourne | 5 | 0 | 13 | 67.7 | 20 |
| Hawthorn | 0 | 0 | 18 | 61.6 | 0 |
Exhibition match
| Opposition | Result | Score | |||
| Gippsland League | WIN | 97-85 | |||
Playing list
| Number | Player | Games | Goals | ||
| 1 | Stan Wittman | 19 | 34 | ||
| 2 | Barney Wood | 5 | 0 | ||
| 3 | Ted Thomas | 12 | 0 | ||
| 4 | Jim Abernethy | 14 | 20 | ||
| 5 | Tommy McConville | 18 | 25 | ||
| 6 | Allan Hope | 4 | 7 | ||
| 7 | Norman Driver | 2 | 0 | ||
| 8 | Herbert White | 17 | 7 | ||
| 9 | Charlie Streeter | 12 | 0 | ||
| 10 | Jack Collins | 17 | 2 | ||
| 11 | Derek Mollison | 7 | 1 | ||
| 12 | Bob Corbett | 18 | 3 | ||
| 14 | Ivor Warne-Smith | 20 | 13 | ||
| 15 | Charlie Barnes | 20 | 0 | ||
| 16 | Robert C Johnson | 17 | 55 | ||
| 17 | Bert Chadwick | 16 | 10 | ||
| 19 | Harry Coy | 7 | 0 | ||
| 19 | Clem Carr | 2 | 0 | ||
| 20 | Les Meade | 1 | 0 | ||
| 21 | Bill London | 1 | 1 | ||
| 21 | Gerry Beare | 2 | 0 | ||
| 23 | Francis Vine | 15 | 10 | ||
| 24 | Jack Haw | 4 | 2 | ||
| 27 | Bill Tymms | 14 | 1 | ||
| 28 | Hugh Dunbar | 13 | 17 | ||
| 29 | Jimmy Davidson | 20 | 9 | ||
| 30 | Gordon Ogden | 11 | 3 | ||
| 31 | Col Deane | 15 | 6 | ||
| 34 | Ray Usher | 10 | 0 | ||
| 35 | Richard Taylor | 20 | 3 | ||
| 38 | Jim Moodie | 2 | 0 | ||
| 39 | Bill Latham | 5 | 0 | ||
Tribunal
| Round | Player | Charge | Sanction | ||
| Round 8 | Stan Wittman | Elbowing | Not Guilty | ||
Seconds
| Carlton | 64 | ||||
| Geelong | 58 | ||||
| Essendon | 54 | ||||
| Collingwood | 52 | ||||
| South Melbourne | 40 | ||||
| North Melbourne | 40 | ||||
| Fitzroy | 30 | ||||
| Richmond | 28 | ||||
| St Kilda | 18 | ||||
| Footscray | 16 | ||||
| Melbourne | 16 | ||||
| Hawthorn | 16 | ||||
Media
Sun - 02/02/1928, 16/02/1928
Argus - 16/02/1928
Argus - 23/04/1928
Football Record R1 1928
Argus - 04/10/1928
Links
AFL Tables page
Wikipedia page
Membership image courtesy of grandoldflag.net