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1955

Image Coach: Norm Smith
Captain: Noel McMahen
Finishing Position: 1st (Premiers)
Best and Fairest: Stuart Spencer
Leading Goalkicker: Stuart Spencer (34)
Best First Year Player: Trevor Johnson

Matches Ladder Playing list Seconds Thirds
Image

After a surprised return to the Grand Final in 1954, Melbourne completed their rebuild in style. Despite a shocking run of injuries in the first half of the season, Norm Smith led his side to 10 wins to start the year, the minor premiership and a seventh VFL flag. Before the season, Smith publicly defended his side against critics who had accused them of playing dirty, saying the club had "never tolerated a player who plays unfairly." At the end of the year, he admitted not having a perfect team, saying "We are realists down at Melbourne. Although we won the premiership last year we know we didn't have a perfect team, and we won without a good attack." He praised the defence, saying , but said he still needed to strengthen one wing and the half-forward line.

The winning streak was a club record, beating the previous mark set in 1937, and after a brief lull in the middle of the year they recovered to finish a game and percentage clear at the top of the ladder, even in spite of 214.275 goalkicking accuracy. At the end of the season, Smith accepted that he "didn't have a perfect team", and "won without a good attack", but praised his backline, saying it was "near perfect, with solidity, vigour and pace nicely mixed". He declared that they still needed to strengthen one of their wings and the half-forward line before launching a premiership defence.

Collingwood had delivered Melbourne's first loss of the season, so the Semi Final rematch was hotly anticipated. A crowd of over 88,000 saw the Demons win narrowly, earning the direct route to the Grand Final. Collingwood won through the Preliminary Final, setting up a third match between the sides. With the game well won in the last quarter, Frank Adams and Magpie Des Healey had a high-speed collision that left both men unconscious.

Before the season, a 15 metre penalty was introduced to penalise players who held others after a mark, encroached over the mark or refused to return the ball when required, with each club having one designated trainer who was allowed to pass messages to players. Boundary umpires were first provided whistles to signal when the ball went out of bounds. In August, one designated trainer from each side was legally allowed to pass messages from coach to players.

Bert Chadwick and Richard Taylor were Melbourne's delegates to the VFL. Recruiting districts were altered and Melbourne's zone added the Centre Ward of the City of Moorabbin.

In the off-season, Melbourne players participated in a basketball competition for professional footballers.

Premiership season

RoundOppositionResultScore
1 St. KildaWIN118-59
2 GeelongWIN111-62
3 FootscrayWIN58-46
4 North MelbourneWIN74-61
5 EssendonWIN73-59
6 HawthornWIN71-44
7 South MelbourneWIN72-71
8 CarltonWIN135-70
9 RichmondWIN94-78
10 FitzroyWIN71-39
11 CollingwoodLOSS45-48
12 St. KildaWIN118-21
13 GeelongLOSS52-71
14 FootscrayLOSS73-74
15 North MelbourneWIN90-63
16 EssendonWIN119-54
17 HawthornWIN91-85
18 South MelbourneWIN94-31
SF CollingwoodWIN56-45
GF CollingwoodWIN64-36

Ladder

WDL%P
Melbourne1503150.560
Collingwood1404127.556
Geelong1404122.856
Essendon1206130.648
Footscray1206130.048
Richmond909106.136
Carlton90998.636
Hawthorn801094.032
Fitzroy601288.524
South Melbourne501387.820
North Melbourne301576.312
St. Kilda101745.44

Playing list

NumberNameGamesGoals
1 Denis Cordner 190
2 Robert McKenzie 79
3 Peter Marquis 200
4 Ken Christie 70
5 Ian McLean 183
6 Frank Adams 169
7 Geoff Case 147
8 Kevin Clarke 10
9 Brian Dixon 167
11 Laurie Mithen 1722
12 Stuart Spencer 1934
14 Trevor Johnson 130
15 Athol Webb 814
16 Clyde Laidlaw 1810
17 Geoff McGivern 90
18 Bob Johnson 1827
19 Keith Carroll 60
21 Noel Baker 60
22 Ivan Baumgartner 50
24 Ian Ridley 1531
25 Don Williams 200
26 Noel Clarke 1024
28 Terry Gleeson 105
29 Tony Bull 136
30 John Beckwith 170
31 Ron Barassi 1918
32 Fred Webster 32
33 Colin Wilson 100
34 Ralph Lane 91
35 Noel McMahen 191
36 Dick Atkinson 30
38 Ken Melville 150

Exhibition match

OppositionResultScore
Port Adelaide WIN65-64

Best and Fairest

Player
1st Stuart Spencer
2nd John Beckwith

Awards
Best Clubman - Terry Gleeson
Outstanding Service - Noel McMahen, Laurie Mithen

Seconds

1955 Seconds season

WDL%P
Richmond 1503171.560
Melbourne 1206119.048
Collingwood 1107120.444
Footscray 1107117.044
Essendon 1107107.644
South Melbourne1008117.340
Fitzroy90990.336
Geelong8010100.332
Hawthorn701191.928
North Melbourne601272.224
Carlton501383.420
St Kilda301554.512

Finals

RoundOppositionResultScore
SF Richmond LOSS60-84
PF Footscray LOSS90-104

Thirds

WDL%P
Footscray 1213131.750
South Melbourne 1204149.048
Essendon 1105125.644
Fitzroy 1006139.340
Collingwood1006124.340
Carlton1006110.340
Melbourne808105.632
Richmond80891.132
Geelong511087.922
Hawthorn401276.616
St Kilda301364.812
North Melbourne201458.08

Notes
Some sources say Denis Cordner was runner-up in the Best and Fairest.

Media
Age - 11/04/1955, 31/05/1955, 23/09/1955, 18/02/1956
Football Record R11 1955

Links
AFL Tables page
Wikipedia page

Created by Supermercado. Last Modification: Saturday 14 October 2023 14:51:56 AEDT by Supermercado. (Version 47)

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