Captain - Coach: Percy Beames
Finishing Position: 8th
Best and Fairest: Norm Smith
Leading Goalkicker: Fred Fanning (87)
Best First Year Player: Esmond Downey
| Matches | Ladder | Playing List | Tribunal | Seconds | |
Geelong returned to the VFL, but Melbourne's playing stocks continued to be ravaged by World War II. Of 36 players who appeared in the 1941 premiership season just four were still playing, with 24 in the services. Despite a successful move into the centre by Norm Smith and Fred Fanning winning the league goalkicking for a second time, a thin list meant another year out of the finals. With 22 of the 1943 squad unavailable, Percy Beames debuted 16 new players. He used 46 players overall, the equal most of any season in club history.
The league originally planned to retain the 1943 system where the bottom club would drop out after Round 11, and this time the second last team would be eliminated too. The idea was dropped midway through the year.
Fred Fanning, Ron Irwin and Bill Adams were guest players in an August match to raise funds for prisoners of war.
The club spent £1627 and had £818 of income.
Melbourne's VFL delegates were Joe Blair and Bruce Hogg. No committee election was required to start the year, with RB Hogg, FW Ince, L. McArthur, WC Saunders, GS Sleight, ECH Taylor, W. Berry and A. McLPatterson unopposed.
Practice match
| Opposition | Result | Score | |||
| RAAF | ? | ? | |||
Premiership Season
| Round | Opposition | Result | Score | ||
| 1 | Richmond | LOSS | 92-132 | ||
| 2 | Essendon | LOSS | 100-120 | ||
| 3 | Carlton | LOSS | 77-92 | ||
| 4 | Geelong | WIN | 142-69 | ||
| 5 | St. Kilda | LOSS | 73-86 | ||
| 6 | Collingwood | WIN | 99-69 | ||
| 7 | North Melbourne | LOSS | 82-110 | ||
| 8 | Fitzroy | LOSS | 52-77 | ||
| 9 | Footscray | LOSS | 61-63 | ||
| 10 | South Melbourne | WIN | 70-67 | ||
| 11 | Hawthorn | WIN | 157-52 | ||
| 12 | Richmond | LOSS | 69-110 | ||
| 13 | Essendon | LOSS | 78-98 | ||
| 14 | Carlton | WIN | 54-38 | ||
| 15 | Geelong | WIN | 69-56 | ||
| 16 | St. Kilda | LOSS | 52-91 | ||
| 17 | Collingwood | LOSS | 83-102 | ||
| 18 | Hawthorn | WIN | 111-49 | ||
Exhibition Match
| Opponent | Result | Score | |||
| Ballarat League | WIN | 155-31 | |||
Ladder
| W | D | L | % | P | |
| Richmond | 13 | 1 | 4 | 131.2 | 54 |
| Fitzroy | 13 | 1 | 4 | 131.1 | 54 |
| Essendon | 12 | 2 | 4 | 134.0 | 52 |
| Footscray | 12 | 1 | 5 | 106.9 | 50 |
| Carlton | 12 | 0 | 6 | 131.5 | 48 |
| North Melbourne | 10 | 0 | 8 | 100.3 | 40 |
| South Melbourne | 9 | 0 | 9 | 96.9 | 36 |
| Melbourne | 7 | 0 | 11 | 102.7 | 28 |
| St. Kilda | 6 | 2 | 10 | 90.4 | 28 |
| Collingwood | 7 | 0 | 11 | 89.1 | 28 |
| Hawthorn | 2 | 1 | 15 | 66.2 | 10 |
| Geelong | 1 | 0 | 17 | 58.6 | 4 |
Playing List
| Number | Player | Games | Goals | ||
| 1 | Ron Kimberley | 2 | 0 | ||
| 1 | Jack Compton | 3 | 2 | ||
| 2 | Roy Dowsing | 14 | 6 | ||
| 3 | Ron Irwin | 18 | 0 | ||
| 4 | Norm Smith | 18 | 3 | ||
| 5 | Billy Deans | 18 | 4 | ||
| 6 | Fred Fanning | 14 | 87 | ||
| 7 | Clem Conroy | 2 | 0 | ||
| 9 | Ivan Porter | 2 | 3 | ||
| 10 | Gordon Kramer | 9 | 1 | ||
| 11 | Norm Matthews | 4 | 1 | ||
| 12 | Jack Mueller | 5 | 6 | ||
| 13 | Frank Scanlan | 3 | 0 | ||
| 14 | George Archibald | 16 | 2 | ||
| 15 | Colin Bradley | 3 | 0 | ||
| 16 | Hughie McPherson | 11 | 6 | ||
| 17 | Tom Bush | 1 | 0 | ||
| 18 | Darcy Walsh | 3 | 0 | ||
| 19 | Lloyd Bennett | 9 | 4 | ||
| 20 | Harry New | 1 | 0 | ||
| 20 | Bob Herbert | 13 | 13 | ||
| 21 | Don Cordner | 18 | 2 | ||
| 22 | Shane McGrath | 2 | 0 | ||
| 22 | Tony Bizzaca | 2 | 1 | ||
| 23 | Jack Doherty | 2 | 0 | ||
| 24 | Percy Beames | 18 | 17 | ||
| 25 | Col McLean | 18 | 0 | ||
| 26 | Doug Heywood | 16 | 8 | ||
| 27 | Col Galbraith | 4 | 0 | ||
| 28 | Percy Taylor | 7 | 17 | ||
| 29 | Ken Levey | 7 | 0 | ||
| 31 | Les Gibbs | 1 | 0 | ||
| 32 | Jack Minnis | 12 | 1 | ||
| 33 | Frank McGrath | 2 | 1 | ||
| 33 | Warren Lewis | 4 | 3 | ||
| 34 | Neil Bencraft | 2 | 3 | ||
| 35 | Charlie Newman | 7 | 0 | ||
| 36 | Esmond Downey | 16 | 7 | ||
| 37 | Jack Maher | 4 | 2 | ||
| 37 | Bryan Crimmins | 1 | 0 | ||
| 38 | Bill Scanlan | 10 | 12 | ||
| 39 | Jack Stock | 9 | 0 | ||
| 39 | Frank Kennedy | 6 | 4 | ||
| Ron Hall | 3 | 0 | |||
| Don Hewson | 1 | 0 | |||
| Jim Ryan | 1 | 0 | |||
Best and Fairest
| Player | |||||
| 1st | Norm Smith | ||||
| 2nd | Don Cordner | ||||
Awards
Best Clubman - Roy Dowsing
Most Outstanding and Special Goalkicking - Fred Fanning
Most Improved - Ron Irwin
Most Determined - Percy Beames and Hughie McPherson
Best Utility - Billy Deans and George Archibald
Most Dependable - Col McLean
Most Promising Performances - Doug Heywood, Bill Scanlan and Frank Kennedy
Tribunal
| Round | Player | Charge | Sanction | ||
| Round 8 | Percy Beames | Unknown | Withdrawn | ||
| Round 11 | Fred Fanning | Striking | 4 matches | ||
| Round 16 | Roy Dowsing | Striking | Not Guilty | ||
Seconds
| W | D | L | % | P | |
| Footscray | 14 | 0 | 4 | 125.0 | 56 |
| Fitzroy | 13 | 1 | 4 | 134.0 | 54 |
| Collingwood | 13 | 0 | 5 | 145.6 | 52 |
| St Kilda | 12 | 0 | 6 | 122.6 | 48 |
| Carlton | 10 | 1 | 7 | 108.0 | 42 |
| South Melbourne | 9 | 0 | 9 | 86.4 | 36 |
| North Melbourne | 8 | 0 | 10 | 87.0 | 32 |
| Geelong | 8 | 0 | 10 | 86.1 | 32 |
| Essendon | 6 | 0 | 12 | 98.9 | 24 |
| Richmond | 5 | 0 | 13 | 81.7 | 20 |
| Hawthorn | 4 | 1 | 13 | 82.1 | 18 |
| Melbourne | 4 | 1 | 13 | 77.7 | 18 |
Notes
A charity practice match may have been played against Hawthorn on 29 April, but the league appears to have rejected the concept.
Media
Sun - 02/02/1944
Football Record R1 1944
Australasian - 24/06/1944
Herald - 02/08/1944, 21/02/1945
Argus - 23/11/1944
Barrier Daily Truth - 06/02/1946