Coach: Bob Skilton
Captain: Stan Alves
Finishing Position: 12th (last)
Best and Fairest: Stan Alves
Leading Goalkicker: Ross Brewer (40)
Best First Year Player: Garry Baker
| Matches | Ladder | Playing List | Night Series | Best and Fairest | Reserves | Under 19s |
New coach Bob Skilton replaced Ian Ridley, but Melbourne took a further step backwards and finished bottom of the ladder.
After losing their last eight games of 1973 to end up finishing 10th, the Demons opened the season in a similar fashion by dropping their first nine games. In took until 8 June to win their first premiership match in 11 months - both against Fitzroy. A seminar was shortly after to investigate all aspects of the club's operations, with speakers including deposed former coach Ian Ridley who suggested the club's committees should look to themselves for improvement. One official said: "We're in a desperate situation and desperate measures must be taken to get out of it". Melbourne won just two more matches for the year - including another victory over the Lions - and finished a game and a half adrift at the bottom of the table.
In April, the club backed a move by Collingwood for VFL Directors meetings to be opened to the press. At the same time they voted in favour of a censure motion towards a Richmond director.
The club lost $24,137 for the year, it's worst financial result of the VFL era.
Practice matches
| Opposition | Result | |||||
| Norwood | LOSS | |||||
| Carlton | LOSS | |||||
| Richmond | LOSS | |||||
Premiership Season
| Round | Opposition | Result | ||||
| 1 | Carlton | LOSS | ||||
| 2 | St. Kilda | LOSS | ||||
| 3 | Geelong | LOSS | ||||
| 4 | Richmond | LOSS | ||||
| 5 | North Melbourne | LOSS | ||||
| 6 | Collingwood | LOSS | ||||
| 7 | South Melbourne | LOSS | ||||
| 8 | Hawthorn | LOSS | ||||
| 9 | Footscray | LOSS | ||||
| 10 | Fitzroy | WIN | ||||
| 11 | Essendon | LOSS | ||||
| 12 | Carlton | LOSS | ||||
| 13 | St. Kilda | WIN | ||||
| 14 | Richmond | LOSS | ||||
| 15 | Geelong | LOSS | ||||
| 16 | North Melbourne | LOSS | ||||
| 17 | Collingwood | LOSS | ||||
| 18 | South Melbourne | LOSS | ||||
| 19 | Hawthorn | LOSS | ||||
| 20 | Footscray | LOSS | ||||
| 21 | Fitzroy | WIN | ||||
| 22 | Essendon | LOSS | ||||
Ladder
| W | D | L | % | P | ||
| Richmond | 17 | 0 | 5 | 129.3 | 68 | |
| North Melbourne | 16 | 0 | 6 | 138.8 | 64 | |
| Hawthorn | 15 | 0 | 7 | 125.4 | 60 | |
| Collingwood | 15 | 0 | 7 | 104.6 | 60 | |
| Footscray | 13 | 1 | 8 | 108.8 | 54 | |
| Geelong | 11 | 0 | 11 | 93.4 | 44 | |
| Carlton | 10 | 1 | 11 | 105.8 | 42 | |
| Essendon | 10 | 0 | 12 | 97.6 | 40 | |
| South Melbourne | 9 | 1 | 12 | 83.7 | 38 | |
| St. Kilda | 7 | 0 | 15 | 88.7 | 28 | |
| Fitzroy | 4 | 1 | 17 | 71.3 | 18 | |
| Melbourne | 3 | 0 | 19 | 77.1 | 12 | |
Playing List
| Number | Player | Games | Goals | |||
| 1 | Gary Baker | 20 | 24 | |||
| 2 | Robert Flower | 18 | 22 | |||
| 4 | Tony Sullivan | 18 | 0 | |||
| 5 | John Clennett | 14 | 6 | |||
| 6 | Ross Brewer | 22 | 40 | |||
| 7 | Graham Osborne | 7 | 2 | |||
| 8 | Peter Keenan | 15 | 8 | |||
| 9 | Stephen Kerley | 10 | 0 | |||
| 10 | Carl Ditterich | 19 | 12 | |||
| 11 | Greg Wells | 22 | 26 | |||
| 12 | Mike Collins | 9 | 3 | |||
| 14 | Neil Chamberlain | 9 | 2 | |||
| 15 | Stan Alves | 21 | 11 | |||
| 17 | Denis Clark | 18 | 4 | |||
| 18 | John Tilbrook | 11 | 15 | |||
| 19 | Ray Biffin | 19 | 1 | |||
| 21 | Graham Molloy | 3 | 0 | |||
| 22 | Charles Pagnoccolo | 1 | 0 | |||
| 23 | Shane Fitzsimmons | 5 | 4 | |||
| 24 | Wayne Delmenico | 9 | 0 | |||
| 26 | Graham Scott | 8 | 4 | |||
| 27 | Greg Wood | 11 | 4 | |||
| 28 | Tony Dullard | 17 | 5 | |||
| 29 | David Murray | 6 | 0 | |||
| 30 | Peter Williamson | 14 | 14 | |||
| 31 | Billy Barham | 9 | 13 | |||
| 32 | Dennis Payne | 1 | 0 | |||
| 33 | Gary Hardeman | 20 | 11 | |||
| 34 | Mal Owens | 12 | 3 | |||
| 35 | Steven Smith | 17 | 12 | |||
| 37 | John Reid | 2 | 0 | |||
| 38 | Peter Slade | 15 | 4 | |||
| 39 | Kevin Moore | 8 | 1 | |||
| 40 | Neil McMullin | 7 | 1 | |||
| 42 | Peter Keays | 7 | 1 | |||
| 42 | Ted Carroll | 2 | 1 | |||
| 43 | Frank Giampaolo | 12 | 5 | |||
| 54 | Mike Power | 2 | 0 | |||
Best and Fairest
| Player | ||||||
| 1st | Stan Alves | |||||
| 2nd | Carl Ditterich | |||||
| 3rd | Gary Hardeman | |||||
| 4th | Greg Wells | |||||
| 5th | Tony Sullivan | |||||
| Round | Player | Charge | Sanction | |||
| Round 1 Under 19s | G. Giles | Striking | Unknown | |||
| Round 6 | Sam Allica (runner) | Abusive Language | 8 matches | |||
| Round 18 Reserves | David Murray | Striking | Unknown | |||
Reserves
1974 Reserves Season
Best and Fairest - Peter Williamson
Best and Fairest - Ian McGuinness
Outstanding Service - Shane Fitzsimmons, Peter Keenan, Neil Chamberlain
| W | D | L | % | P | ||
| Footscray | 15 | 0 | 7 | 117.9 | 60 | |
| Geelong | 15 | 0 | 7 | 117.0 | 60 | |
| Fitzroy | 15 | 0 | 7 | 115.7 | 60 | |
| Richmond | 14 | 0 | 8 | 117.0 | 56 | |
| Carlton | 14 | 0 | 8 | 115.4 | 56 | |
| Essendon | 14 | 0 | 8 | 114.5 | 56 | |
| Hawthorn | 11 | 0 | 11 | 97.6 | 44 | |
| Collingwood | 10 | 0 | 12 | 93.3 | 40 | |
| North Melbourne | 9 | 0 | 13 | 100.7 | 36 | |
| St Kilda | 9 | 0 | 13 | 96.2 | 36 | |
| South Melbourne | 3 | 0 | 19 | 72.0 | 12 | |
| Melbourne | 3 | 0 | 19 | 66.0 | 12 | |
Under 19s
Best and Fairest - James Ahern
Second Best and Fairest - Phillip Friedman
Outstanding Service - Chris Munday, Greg Woods
Best Clubman - Ray Potter
Special Award - Mike Power
Leading Goalkicker - Andrew Baker (42)
| P | ||||||
| Footscray | 68 | |||||
| Collingwood | 64 | |||||
| Hawthorn | 60 | |||||
| Richmond | 56 | |||||
| Essendon | 56 | |||||
| Carlton | 56 | |||||
| Fitzroy | 48 | |||||
| Geelong | 32 | |||||
| Melbourne | 28 | |||||
| North Melbourne | 24 | |||||
| St Kilda | 24 | |||||
| South Melbourne | 12 | |||||
Under 17s
Best and Fairest - Steve Hilton
Second Best and Fairest - Robert Santagada
Outstanding Service - Geoff Osmand, Peter Gabron, Ian Sutton
Notes
Other sources show Neil McMullin as wearing #50 but Football Record from that year shows him as #40 after his first game.
Also Peter Keays is usually listed as having been #51 but the same Record as above shows him as being #42 from at least his fourth game onwards.
A second pre-season match against Carlton is shown, but later in the same article it suggests Fitzroy were the opposition.
Media
Age - 02/04/1974, 19/06/1974, 13/11/1974