Captain - Coach: Ivor Warne-Smith
Finishing Position: 8th
Best and Fairest: n/a
Leading Goalkicker: George Margitich (66)
Best First Year Player: n/a
Members: 1465
| Matches | Ladder | Playing list | Seconds | ||
After two years out of the finals, Melbourne lacked the resources to scour the country for recruits and had to rely on veterans and local youngsters. Their first training list for the season consisted of 114 players, and after the club appealled for strong followers, 26 played in the first practice match. The committee was reelected unopposed before the start of the year. While the senior side slid to eighth, the Seconds won their maiden premiership.
The Page Final Four system was introduced, removing the challenge system and guaranteeing a Grand Final every year. After improving to a 5-1 record at Round 6, Melbourne looked likely to play finals, before a six game losing streak ended their chances. Even their breakthrough victory was controversial, with Essendon protesting the result of Round 13.
Melbourne finished four games out of the finals, with the club blaming a spate of injuries that stopped them from regularly naming the same side in successive weeks. Their cause was not helped by the mid-season retirements of Stan Wittman who gave the game away due to business commitments. They were also poor in the wet during a year of more rain-affected games than most.
Andrew Manzie and T. Parkin were Melbourne's delegates to the league.
The club had receipts of 2189/7/3 and expenditure of 3873/14/3.
Melbourne's final list before the start of the season was: Abernethy, Avery, Cassidy, Collins, Conole, Crapper, Cutler, H. Davidson, J. Davidson, Esposite, Frood, Jackson, Johnson, Lindsay, Long, Margitich, McDonald, Moodie, Moran, Murray, Nelson, Ogden, Pemberton, Power, Rennie, Sambell, Steel, Robinson, F. Smith, Taylor, Tymms, Usher, Vanthoff, Vine, Warne-Smith, Williams, Wittman. The supplementary list was W. Collins, Comber, Dudfield, Gough, Harris, Horman, Jones, Kelly, Kierney, Langley, Murridge, Noseda, T. Ogden, Reid, Steinberger, Watson
Premiership season
| Round | Opposition | Result | Score | ||
| 1 | Fitzroy | WIN | 106-94 | ||
| 2 | Essendon | LOSS | 73-77 | ||
| 3 | Geelong | WIN | 87-83 | ||
| 4 | Hawthorn | WIN | 109-94 | ||
| 5 | Footscray | WIN | 87-71 | ||
| 6 | North Melbourne | WIN | 98-59 | ||
| 7 | Collingwood | LOSS | 54-71 | ||
| 8 | Carlton | LOSS | 58-122 | ||
| 9 | St. Kilda | LOSS | 36-63 | ||
| 10 | Richmond | LOSS | 53-66 | ||
| 11 | South Melbourne | LOSS | 31-82 | ||
| 12 | Fitzroy | LOSS | 66-77 | ||
| 13 | Essendon | WIN | 72-71 | ||
| 14 | Geelong | LOSS | 45-77 | ||
| 15 | Hawthorn | WIN | 93-18 | ||
| 16 | Footscray | LOSS | 38-72 | ||
| 17 | North Melbourne | WIN | 123-79 | ||
| 18 | Collingwood | LOSS | 57-127 | ||
Ladder
| W | D | L | % | P | |
| Geelong | 15 | 0 | 3 | 151.4 | 60 |
| Richmond | 15 | 0 | 3 | 141.1 | 60 |
| Carlton | 12 | 0 | 6 | 125.1 | 48 |
| Collingwood | 12 | 0 | 6 | 124.0 | 48 |
| Footscray | 12 | 0 | 6 | 110.2 | 48 |
| Essendon | 10 | 0 | 8 | 99.2 | 40 |
| South Melbourne | 9 | 0 | 9 | 99.1 | 36 |
| Melbourne | 8 | 0 | 10 | 91.7 | 32 |
| St. Kilda | 8 | 0 | 10 | 89.2 | 32 |
| Fitzroy | 4 | 0 | 14 | 86.0 | 16 |
| Hawthorn | 3 | 0 | 15 | 82.1 | 12 |
| North Melbourne | 0 | 0 | 18 | 50.8 | 0 |
Playing List
| Number | Player | Games | Goals | ||
| 1 | Stan Wittman | 6 | 1 | ||
| 2 | Wyn Murray | 7 | 1 | ||
| 3 | George Margitich | 17 | 66 | ||
| 4 | Jim Abernethy | 18 | 0 | ||
| 5 | Hec Davidson | 6 | 0 | ||
| 6 | Ted Esposito | 17 | 0 | ||
| 7 | Bert Avery | 18 | 0 | ||
| 8 | Bill Adams | 1 | 1 | ||
| 10 | Jack Collins | 8 | 1 | ||
| 11 | Frank Smith | 12 | 0 | ||
| 12 | Jack Power | 12 | 1 | ||
| 13 | Gordon Lindsay | 1 | 0 | ||
| 14 | Ivor Warne-Smith | 16 | 9 | ||
| 15 | Harry Crapper | 5 | 0 | ||
| 16 | Robert C Johnson | 15 | 44 | ||
| 17 | Bill Macdonald | 3 | 0 | ||
| 18 | Bill Cutler | 7 | 0 | ||
| 19 | Edwin Pemberton | 5 | 0 | ||
| 20 | Harry Long | 18 | 7 | ||
| 21 | Bill Vanthoff | 14 | 12 | ||
| 22 | Reg Conole | 14 | 2 | ||
| 23 | Francis Vine | 14 | 2 | ||
| 24 | Percy Beames | 11 | 2 | ||
| 25 | Billy Collins | 2 | 0 | ||
| 27 | Bill Tymms | 11 | 0 | ||
| 28 | Webber Jackson | 12 | 5 | ||
| 29 | Jimmy Davidson | 18 | 8 | ||
| 30 | Howard Steel | 3 | 1 | ||
| 31 | Lew Gough | 4 | 0 | ||
| 32 | Gordon Ogden | 13 | 0 | ||
| 34 | Ray Usher | 15 | 1 | ||
| 35 | Richard Taylor | 15 | 12 | ||
| 37 | George Cassidy | 3 | 2 | ||
| Ossie Green | 1 | 0 | |||
Tribunal
| Round | Player | Charge | Sanction | ||
| Round 4 | Gordon Ogden | Attempted Striking | 4 matches | ||
| Round 5 | Stan Wittman | Striking | Not Guilty | ||
Seconds
| W | D | L | % | P | |
| Collingwood | 15 | 0 | 3 | 143.0 | 60 |
| Melbourne | 14 | 0 | 4 | 175.0 | 56 |
| Geelong | 14 | 0 | 4 | 157.6 | 56 |
| Essendon | 13 | 0 | 5 | 135.9 | 52 |
| Carlton | 10 | 0 | 8 | 40 | |
| St Kilda | 10 | 0 | 8 | 40 | |
| Richmond | 9 | 0 | 9 | 36 | |
| South Melbourne | 7 | 0 | 11 | 28 | |
| Fitzroy | 5 | 0 | 13 | 20 | |
| Footscray | 5 | 0 | 13 | 20 | |
| Hawthorn | 5 | 0 | 13 | 20 | |
| North Melbourne | 1 | 0 | 17 | 4 |
Finals
| Round | Opposition | Result | Score | ||
| SF | Collingwood | WIN | 111-49 | ||
| GF | Geelong | WIN | 61-53 | ||
Media
Sun - 18/02/1931, 16/09/1931, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/276266714|01/02/1932]
Argus - 18/02/1931
Herald - 24/02/1931
Sporting Globe - 28/02/1931
Age - 13/04/1931, 28/04/1931