Coach: Norm Smith
Captain: Noel McMahen
Finishing Position: 1st (Premiers)
Best and Fairest: Stuart Spencer
Leading Goalkicker: Robert B Johnson (43)
Best First Year Player: Jim Sandral
| Matches | Ladder | Playing list | Tribunal | Seconds | Thirds |
Unable to train at the MCG in pre-season due to preparation for the Olympics, the reigning premiers used Olympic Park as an alternative training venue, then the Albert Ground from the start of the season until August. The Thirds played at the Albert Ground all season while curtain raisers were banned from the MCG. The ground was unavailable for any games for the first month of the season, and they didn't return to unveil their 1955 premiership flag until Round 5.
Norm Smith admitted before the season that he was concerned his side were vulnerable to over-confidence, but they remained unbeaten for the first 13 weeks. Two losses in three weeks were their only defeats all year, finishing the season with a 16-2 record, the best in club history to that point. They only needed 27 players for the year, the equal least of any Melbourne season.
The year ended with three consectutive matches against Collingwood, in the last round, Semi Final, then Grand Final. After beating the Pies three times for the year, one of the finest Melbourne sides ever to take the field did what was expected to capture the premiership in front a record 115,000 strong crowd. The Seconds had already won their Grand Final earlier in the day.
A night football competition was played for the first time, but was restricted to the eight clubs who missed finals.
During the Summer Olympics held in Melbourne during summer Denis Cordner captained a combination of VFA/VFL amateurs in a match against the VAFA as part of a demonstration of Australian Rules Football.
The club made a profit of £1268 for the year. Before the season the league approved an increase in player payments to £6 per match, £3 for emergency players, £2 for listed players, £6 for injured players and £2 for disqualified players.
Melbourne's VFL delegates were Bert Chadwick and Richard Taylor.
Premiership season
| Round | Opposition | Result | |||
| 1 | Richmond | WIN | |||
| 2 | Carlton | WIN | |||
| 3 | Footscray | WIN | |||
| 4 | Fitzroy | WIN | |||
| 5 | Geelong | WIN | |||
| 6 | North Melbourne | WIN | |||
| 7 | Collingwood | WIN | |||
| 8 | St. Kilda | WIN | |||
| 9 | Essendon | WIN | |||
| 10 | South Melbourne | WIN | |||
| 11 | Hawthorn | WIN | |||
| 12 | Richmond | WIN | |||
| 13 | Carlton | WIN | |||
| 14 | Footscray | LOSS | |||
| 15 | Fitzroy | WIN | |||
| 16 | Geelong | LOSS | |||
| 17 | North Melbourne | WIN | |||
| 18 | Collingwood | WIN | |||
| SF | Collingwood | WIN | |||
| GF | Collingwood | WIN | |||
Ladder
| W | D | L | % | P | |
| Melbourne | 16 | 0 | 2 | 146.0 | 64 |
| Collingwood | 13 | 0 | 5 | 125.9 | 52 |
| Geelong | 13 | 0 | 5 | 121.9 | 52 |
| Footscray | 11 | 0 | 7 | 114.2 | 44 |
| Carlton | 10 | 1 | 7 | 113.7 | 42 |
| Essendon | 10 | 0 | 8 | 95.8 | 40 |
| Hawthorn | 7 | 1 | 10 | 88.9 | 30 |
| Fitzroy | 7 | 0 | 11 | 89.3 | 28 |
| South Melbourne | 6 | 1 | 11 | 88.1 | 26 |
| Richmond | 6 | 0 | 12 | 86.8 | 24 |
| St. Kilda | 4 | 1 | 13 | 88.0 | 18 |
| North Melbourne | 3 | 0 | 15 | 69.6 | 12 |
Exhibition games
| Opposition | Result | Score | |||
| North West Football Union | WIN | 147-61 | |||
| Port Adelaide | WIN | 84-74 | |||
| East Perth | WIN | 67-56 | |||
Playing list
| Number | Name | Games | Goals | ||
| 1 | Denis Cordner | 20 | 2 | ||
| 3 | Peter Marquis | 15 | 4 | ||
| 5 | Ian McLean | 14 | 1 | ||
| 6 | Frank Adams | 7 | 3 | ||
| 7 | Geoff Case | 4 | 0 | ||
| 8 | Jim Sandral | 15 | 2 | ||
| 9 | Brian Dixon | 17 | 5 | ||
| 11 | Laurie Mithen | 18 | 8 | ||
| 12 | Stuart Spencer | 19 | 42 | ||
| 14 | Trevor Johnson | 20 | 1 | ||
| 15 | Athol Webb | 20 | 28 | ||
| 16 | Clyde Laidlaw | 18 | 5 | ||
| 17 | Geoff McGivern | 13 | 0 | ||
| 18 | Bob Johnson | 19 | 43 | ||
| 19 | Keith Carroll | 20 | 0 | ||
| 21 | Peter Cook | 7 | 3 | ||
| 24 | Ian Ridley | 20 | 40 | ||
| 25 | Don Williams | 18 | 0 | ||
| 27 | Denis Jones | 2 | 1 | ||
| 28 | Terry Gleeson | 10 | 2 | ||
| 29 | Tony Bull | 7 | 1 | ||
| 30 | John Beckwith | 20 | 0 | ||
| 31 | Ron Barassi | 19 | 27 | ||
| 33 | Colin Wilson | 2 | 0 | ||
| 34 | Ralph Lane | 18 | 2 | ||
| 35 | Noel McMahen | 19 | 2 | ||
| 38 | Ken Melville | 19 | 1 | ||
Best and Fairest
| Player | Votes | ||||
| 1st | Stuart Spencer | 87.5 | |||
| 2nd | John Beckwith | 87 | |||
| 3rd | Ron Barassi | 50 | |||
Awards
Best Clubman - Ralph Lane
Outstanding Service - Brian Dixon
Most Unselfish - Athol Webb
Seconds
Captain - Brian Collopy
Vice Captain - Denis Jones
Best and Fairest - Graham Kerr
Second Best and Fairest - Colin Wilson
Most serviceable - Denis Jones
Outstanding service - Robert Hayes, Dick Atkinson, Brian Collopy, Tom Lay
Grand Final Trophy - John Lord, Ben Crameri
| W | D | L | % | P | |
| South Melbourne | 14 | 0 | 4 | 125.5 | 56 |
| Melbourne | 13 | 0 | 5 | 130.4 | 52 |
| Hawthorn | 12 | 0 | 6 | 134.5 | 48 |
| Richmond | 12 | 0 | 6 | 111.7 | 48 |
| St Kilda | 12 | 0 | 6 | 109.0 | 48 |
| Collingwood | 12 | 0 | 6 | 106.0 | 48 |
| Essendon | 9 | 0 | 9 | 119.9 | 36 |
| Footscray | 6 | 0 | 12 | 88.1 | 24 |
| Carlton | 5 | 0 | 13 | 79.0 | 20 |
| Geelong | 5 | 0 | 13 | 77.3 | 20 |
| Fitzroy | 5 | 0 | 13 | 72.8 | 20 |
| North Melbourne | 3 | 0 | 15 | 72.5 | 12 |
Finals
| Round | Opposition | Result | Score | ||
| SF | South Melbourne | WIN | 65-59 | ||
| GF | South Melbourne | WIN | 110-72 | ||
Thirds
Captain - Noel Williamson
Best and Fairest - Trevor Clay
Second Best and Fairest - Ron Dudley
Outstanding service - Noel Williamson, Kevin Boyle, David McKenzie, Ken Davidson
| W | D | L | % | P | |
| Fitzroy | 13 | 0 | 3 | 163.3 | 52 |
| Collingwood | 13 | 0 | 3 | 138.5 | 52 |
| St Kilda | 12 | 1 | 3 | 130.8 | 50 |
| South Melbourne | 12 | 0 | 4 | 168.1 | 48 |
| Essendon | 11 | 0 | 5 | 129.0 | 44 |
| North Melbourne | 8 | 3 | 5 | 126.0 | 38 |
| Carlton | 6 | 1 | 9 | 90.9 | 26 |
| Geelong | 6 | 0 | 10 | 67.3 | 24 |
| Richmond | 4 | 0 | 12 | 67.3 | 16 |
| Footscray | 3 | 1 | 12 | 70.9 | 14 |
| Hawthorn | 3 | 0 | 13 | 66.2 | 12 |
| Melbourne | 2 | 0 | 14 | 57.4 | 8 |
Fourths
Best and Fairest - Neil Campbell
Second Best and Fairest - Bernie Massey
Outstanding service - L. Scotland, L. Seawood, G. Harris
Notes
Football Record suggests the Demons were planning to play a game against the Western Australian premiers on October 20. The Grand Final Record says they also played in Tasmania and Adelaide before the WA game.
Media
Age - 14/02/1956, 21/09/1956
Argus - 09/04/1956, 21/09/1956
Football Record R17 1956
Links
AFL Tables page
Wikipedia page
1956 Story - melbfc.com.au