Coach: John Beckwith
Captain: Tassie Johnson
Finishing Position: 12th (last)
Best and Fairest: John Townsend
Leading Goalkicker: Ross Dillon (48)
Best First Year Player: Paul Rowlands
| Matches | Ladder | Playing List | Night Series | Best and Fairest | Reserves | Under 19's | ||
The first year of the "out on the full" rule saw players penalised for kicking the ball out of bounds, a rule designed to cut down on the rugby union style 'kicking for touch' which had long been a tactic.
With the prospect of Sunday football on the agenda, Melbourne were one of seven clubs who opposed the concept and voted against it. President Donald Duffy said the club were against it on the basis that players appreciated a rest day, some had religious reservations and that there was an ethical issue with playing on the traditional VFA match day.
Ron Barassi came out of playing retirement for the Round 7 match against the Demons in order to boost his total games with the Blues to 50 and qualify his son to play for Carlton under the father/son rule. A torn hamstring in the third quarter ended his comeback but Carlton still won comfortably.
It became apparent very early in the season that the Demons would not be returning to the finals, and it took them eight tries to register their first win for the season. Anothe seven game losing streak in the second half of the year was only snapped with a shock win over league leaders Carlton, but it was to be their last and a loss to fellow strugglers Fitzroy the next week condemned them to their first spoon in nearly twenty years.
Finals season proved successful for the reserves, who won their first premiership since 1956 and for the seniors Night Series campaign which took them into the final when they were eventually beaten by Hawthorn.
At the end of the season Ken Emselle, Barrie Vagg, Bryan Kenneally, Tassie Johnson and Tony Anderson retired.
The club lost $9253 for the year. Melbourne's VFL delegates were Arthur King and Tom Trumble. During the year permit regulations were altered to allow sons to go to their fathers' clubs after 40 games instead of 50.
Practice Matches
Opposition | Result
| |||||||
| Port Adelaide | WIN | |||||||
Premiership Season
Round | Opposition | Result
| ||||||
| 1 | Geelong | LOSS | ||||||
| 2 | North Melbourne | LOSS | ||||||
| 3 | Collingwood | LOSS | ||||||
| 4 | Essendon | LOSS | ||||||
| 5 | Hawthorn | LOSS | ||||||
| 6 | Richmond | LOSS | ||||||
| 7 | Carlton | LOSS | ||||||
| 8 | Fitzroy | WIN | ||||||
| 9 | South Melbourne | LOSS | ||||||
| 10 | Footscray | WIN | ||||||
| 11 | St. Kilda | LOSS | ||||||
| 12 | Geelong | LOSS | ||||||
| 13 | North Melbourne | LOSS | ||||||
| 14 | Collingwood | LOSS | ||||||
| 15 | Essendon | LOSS | ||||||
| 16 | Hawthorn | LOSS | ||||||
| 17 | Richmond | LOSS | ||||||
| 18 | Carlton | WIN | ||||||
| 19 | Fitzroy | LOSS | ||||||
| 20 | South Melbourne | LOSS | ||||||
Ladder
| W | D | L | % | P | ||||
| Collingwood | 15 | 0 | 5 | 129.0 | 60 | |||
| Carlton | 15 | 0 | 5 | 120.5 | 60 | |||
| Geelong | 13 | 1 | 6 | 119.9 | 54 | |||
| Richmond | 13 | 0 | 7 | 124.6 | 52 | |||
| Hawthorn | 13 | 0 | 7 | 98.8 | 52 | |||
| Essendon | 10 | 1 | 9 | 102.5 | 42 | |||
| St. Kilda | 9 | 0 | 11 | 103.2 | 36 | |||
| North Melbourne | 8 | 0 | 12 | 87.5 | 32 | |||
| South Melbourne | 7 | 0 | 13 | 82.5 | 28 | |||
| Fitzroy | 7 | 0 | 13 | 82.4 | 28 | |||
| Footscray | 6 | 0 | 14 | 85.5 | 24 | |||
| Melbourne | 3 | 0 | 17 | 83.1 | 12 | |||
Exhibition Matches
| Opposition | Result | |||||||
| Collingwood | WIN | |||||||
Playing List
| Number | Player | Games | Goals | |||||
| 1 | Max Walker | 19 | 3 | |||||
| 2 | Denis Clark | 18 | 14 | |||||
| 3 | Trevor Rollinson | 17 | 0 | |||||
| 4 | Tony Sullivan | 17 | 0 | |||||
| 5 | Chris Aitken | 7 | 9 | |||||
| 6 | Frank Davis | 16 | 0 | |||||
| 7 | Graham Osborne | 4 | 2 | |||||
| 8 | Tassie Johnson | 16 | 2 | |||||
| 9 | George Lakes | 15 | 13 | |||||
| 10 | Ken Emselle | 2 | 0 | |||||
| 11 | Tony Anderson | 3 | 0 | |||||
| 12 | Chris Fowler | 3 | 0 | |||||
| 14 | Barry Bourke | 16 | 29 | |||||
| 15 | Stan Alves | 20 | 16 | |||||
| 16 | John Townsend | 20 | 16 | |||||
| 17 | Kelvin Clarke | 5 | 2 | |||||
| 18 | Neville Stone | 2 | 0 | |||||
| 19 | Ray Biffin | 11 | 3 | |||||
| 20 | Paul Rowlands | 19 | 0 | |||||
| 21 | David Hone | 18 | 3 | |||||
| 22 | Bryan Kenneally | 2 | 0 | |||||
| 23 | Peter Sinclair | 4 | 3 | |||||
| 24 | Ross Dillon | 19 | 48 | |||||
| 25 | Peter Weekes | 5 | 3 | |||||
| 26 | Greg Parke | 18 | 24 | |||||
| 27 | John Forster | 2 | 0 | |||||
| 28 | Derek Feldmann | 6 | 1 | |||||
| 29 | Steve Arnott | 1 | 0 | |||||
| 30 | John Letcher | 7 | 2 | |||||
| 32 | Barrie Vagg | 6 | 7 | |||||
| 33 | Gary Hardeman | 19 | 15 | |||||
| 34 | Brent Jones | 10 | 0 | |||||
| 37 | Darryl Schwarz | 10 | 0 | |||||
| 38 | Phil Rhoden | 2 | 0 | |||||
| 39 | Russell Colcott | 7 | 11 | |||||
| 41 | Blair Campbell | 12 | 23 | |||||
| 43 | David Hayes | 1 | 0 | |||||
| 44 | Mark Mitchell | 6 | 2 | |||||
| 45 | Danny Jennings | 3 | 1 | |||||
| 46 | Ray Sampson | 1 | 0 | |||||
| 48 | Daryl Powell | 2 | 0 | |||||
| 50 | Robert McKenzie | 6 | 0 | |||||
| 50 | Greg Wells | 3 | 10 | |||||
Golden Fleece Night Series
| Round | Opposition | Result | ||||||
| 1 | St. Kilda | WIN | ||||||
| SF | Footscray | WIN | ||||||
| F | Hawthorn | LOSS | ||||||
Best and Fairest
| Player | ||||||||
| 1st | John Townsend | |||||||
| 2nd | Greg Parke | |||||||
| 3rd | Denis Clark | |||||||
| 4th | George Lakes | |||||||
| 5th | Ross Dillon | |||||||
Tribunal
| Round | Player | Charge | Sanction | |||||
| Round 3 Under 19s | P. Walker | Striking | Unknown | |||||
| Round 16 | Barry Bourke | Striking | 2 matches | |||||
Other Awards
Outstanding Service - Frank Davis
Reserves
Captain - Ken Emselle
Vice-Captain - Barrie Vagg
Best and Fairest - Ken Emselle
Second Best and Fairest - Danny Jennings
Outstanding Service - Ray Biffin, Kelvin Clarke, Phil Rhoden
Ladder
| W | D | L | % | P | ||||
| Melbourne | 15 | 1 | 4 | 123.8 | 62 | |||
| Richmond | 14 | 1 | 5 | 128.0 | 58 | |||
| Carlton | 14 | 1 | 5 | 109.9 | 58 | |||
| Fitzroy | 12 | 0 | 8 | 119.3 | 48 | |||
| Essendon | 10 | 3 | 7 | 114.3 | 46 | |||
| Collingwood | 10 | 0 | 10 | 118.1 | 40 | |||
| St Kilda | 10 | 0 | 10 | 96.2 | 40 | |||
| Hawthorn | 9 | 1 | 10 | 9 | 1 | 10 | 95.9 | 38 |
| Footscray | 7 | 0 | 13 | 83.7 | 28 | |||
| Geelong | 6 | 1 | 13 | 92.5 | 26 | |||
| South Melbourne | 6 | 0 | 14 | 71.6 | 24 | |||
| North Melbourne | 3 | 0 | 17 | 70.9 | 12 | |||
Finals
| Round | Opposition | Result | ||||||
| SF | Richmond | WIN | ||||||
| GF | Carlton | WIN | ||||||
Under 19s
1969 Under 19s season
Best and Fairest - Bruce Brown
Second Best and Fairest - Paul Callery
Leading Goalkicker - Paul Callery
Best Clubman - Robert Mulavin
Outstanding Service - John Gowdie, Peter Martin
Ladder
| W | D | L | % | P | ||||
| Richmond | 17 | 0 | 3 | 178.2 | 68 | |||
| Essendon | 16 | 0 | 4 | 145.9 | 64 | |||
| Hawthorn | 15 | 1 | 4 | 137.9 | 62 | |||
| Fitzroy | 14 | 0 | 6 | 129.2 | 56 | |||
| Collingwood | 13 | 1 | 6 | 112.1 | 54 | |||
| Geelong | 12 | 0 | 8 | 110.4 | 48 | |||
| Footscray | 10 | 0 | 10 | 110.1 | 40 | |||
| Carlton | 8 | 0 | 12 | 80.5 | 32 | |||
| Melbourne | 4 | 0 | 16 | 76.0 | 16 | |||
| St Kilda | 4 | 0 | 16 | 65.8 | 16 | |||
| South Melbourne | 4 | 0 | 16 | 61.7 | 16 | |||
| North Melbourne | 2 | 0 | 16 | 64.5 | 8 | |||
Fourths
Best and Fairest - L. Blackburn
Second Best and Fairest - Warren Tassell
Outstanding Service - R. Taylor, Shane McSpeerin, B. Mitchell
Media
Football Record R14 1969