Coach: Bob Skilton
Captain: Stan Alves
Finishing Position: 6th
Best and Fairest: Greg Wells
Leading Goalkicker: Ray Biffin (47)
Best First Year Player: Peter O'Keefe
| Matches | Ladder | Playing List | Night Series | Best and Fairest | Reserves | Under 19s |
Strong practice match wins over Richmond and Hawthorn, and an opening round success against North Melbourne led some pundits to declare that Melbourne were a danger of making their first finals series since 1964. Writing in The Age Richmond's Royce Hart declared the Demons "the emerging force in the VFL".
The season began with a second field umpire for the first time but it was business as usual Melbourne who were tenth after Round 18 before a three game winning streak put the Demons on the brink of their first finals appearance in a decade going into the last day of the season. With shrewd off-season buys like Craig McKellar and Allan Davis coming into form Bob Skilton even declared that they could give the premiership a shake if they qualified.
As long as they beat Collingwood, and minor premiers Carlton defeated 5th place Footscray at Princes Park they would be finalists for the first time since 1964. The Bulldogs were lucky to still have their destiny in their own hands, having beaten lowly Fitzroy with a kick after the siren the week before. Had centreman Alan Stoneham missed a Demon win at Victoria Park would have been enough to catapault Melbourne into the four no matter what happened at Princes Park.
The Demons did their job, beating wooden spooners Collingwood by 15 points at Victoria Park but Footscray, however, managed to hold off a fast finishing Carlton and earn a draw to take them into the finals in front of a side who would have to wait another 11 years to see a top 5 appearance.
Despite nearly leading his side to the finals, and being named coach of the year by the Sun newspaper, Bob Skilton risked losing his job when he requested a pay-rise that didn't meet the expectations of the committee. Despite media reports suggesting Tom Hafey would take over, the former Richmond premiership coach went to Collingwood and Skilton was reappointed for another year.
Henry Bolte and Lord Mayor Ron Walker were club patrons.
Practice Matches
| Opposition | Result | |||||
| Hawthorn | WIN | |||||
| Richmond | WIN | |||||
Premiership Season
| Round | Opposition | Result | ||||
| 1 | North Melbourne | WIN | ||||
| 2 | Footscray | LOSS | ||||
| 3 | Essendon | WIN | ||||
| 4 | Carlton | LOSS | ||||
| 5 | Fitzroy | WIN | ||||
| 6 | South Melbourne | WIN | ||||
| 7 | Hawthorn | LOSS | ||||
| 8 | Richmond | LOSS | ||||
| 9 | St. Kilda | WIN | ||||
| 10 | Geelong | LOSS | ||||
| 11 | Collingwood | LOSS | ||||
| 12 | North Melbourne | LOSS | ||||
| 13 | Footscray | WIN | ||||
| 14 | Carlton | LOSS | ||||
| 15 | Essendon | LOSS | ||||
| 16 | Fitzroy | WIN | ||||
| 17 | South Melbourne | LOSS | ||||
| 18 | Hawthorn | LOSS | ||||
| 19 | Richmond | WIN | ||||
| 20 | St. Kilda | WIN | ||||
| 21 | Geelong | WIN | ||||
| 22 | Collingwood | WIN | ||||
Ladder
| W | _D | L | % | P | ||
| Carlton | 16 | 1 | 5 | 132.8 | 66 | |
| Hawthorn | 16 | 0 | 6 | 114.2 | 64 | |
| North Melbourne | 15 | 0 | 7 | 116.8 | 60 | |
| Geelong | 12 | 0 | 10 | 103.9 | 48 | |
| Footscray__ | 11 | 1 | 10 | 96.8 | 46 | |
| Melbourne | 11 | 0 | 11 | 99.4 | 44 | |
| Richmond | 10 | 0 | 12 | 98.6 | 40 | |
| South Melbourne | 9 | 0 | 13 | 94.0 | 36 | |
| St. Kilda | 9 | 0 | 13 | 90.1 | 36 | |
| Essendon | 9 | 0 | 13 | 88.2 | 36 | |
| Fitzroy | 7 | 0 | 15 | 92.8 | 28 | |
| Collingwood | 6 | 0 | 16 | 86.4 | 24 | |
Playing List
| Number | Player | Games | Goals | |||
| 1 | Gary Baker | 8 | 9 | |||
| 2 | Robert Flower | 19 | 17 | |||
| 3 | Barry Tippett | 5 | 2 | |||
| 4 | Tony Sullivan | 15 | 0 | |||
| 5 | Des Campbell | 16 | 2 | |||
| 6 | Ross Brewer | 18 | 34 | |||
| 7 | Ray Smith | 17 | 0 | |||
| 8 | Peter Johnston | 6 | 4 | |||
| 9 | Laurie Fowler | 22 | 4 | |||
| 10 | Craig McKellar | 19 | 12 | |||
| 11 | Greg Wells | 22 | 31 | |||
| 12 | Marty Lyons | 4 | 0 | |||
| 13 | Henry Coles | 22 | 25 | |||
| 14 | Neil Chamberlain | 4 | 5 | |||
| 15 | Stan Alves | 18 | 14 | |||
| 16 | Peter Keays | 13 | 3 | |||
| 17 | Shane Grambeau | 14 | 8 | |||
| 18 | Maurice Wingate | 2 | 0 | |||
| 19 | Ray Biffin | 22 | 47 | |||
| 20 | Paul Hurst | 1 | 0 | |||
| 21 | Allan Davis | 21 | 26 | |||
| 22 | Frank Giampaolo | 14 | 3 | |||
| 23 | Shane Fitzsimmons | 7 | 8 | |||
| 24 | Graham Osborne | 15 | 0 | |||
| 26 | Gary Guy | 7 | 3 | |||
| 27 | Colin Graham | 8 | 9 | |||
| 28 | Anthony Dullard | 15 | 2 | |||
| 29 | Terry Wilkins | 3 | 1 | |||
| 30 | Peter Hamilton | 4 | 0 | |||
| 31 | Paul Goss | 4 | 2 | |||
| 33 | Gary Hardeman | 20 | 7 | |||
| 35 | Steven Smith | 19 | 33 | |||
| 36 | David Kelly | 2 | 0 | |||
| 37 | Ted Carroll | 12 | 6 | |||
| 38 | Peter O'Keefe | 7 | 1 | |||
| 41 | Chris Woodman | 7 | 9 | |||
| 43 | Greg Hutchison | 6 | 1 | |||
| 46 | Glenn Walley | 2 | 1 | |||
Best and Fairest
| Player | ||||||
| 1st | Greg Wells | 132 | ||||
| 2nd | Laurie Fowler | 121 | ||||
| 3rd | Henry Coles | 102 | ||||
| 4th | Steven Smith | 84 | ||||
| 5th | Robbie Flower | 66 | ||||
| 6th | Gary Hardeman | 58 | ||||
Tribunal
| Round | Player | Charge | Sanction | |||
| Practice Match | Paul Hurst | Striking | 2 matches | |||
| Round 7 | Des Campbell | Striking | 2 matches | |||
| Round 9 Reserves | Paul Hurst | Striking | Unknown | |||
| Round 11 | Tony Sullivan | Striking | Not Guilty | |||
Other Awards
Redlegs Trophy - Steven Smith
Reserves
1976 Reserves Season
Best and Fairest - Ted Carroll
Second Best and Fairest - Robert Walters
Outstanding Service - Frank Giampaolo, Shane Grambeau, Chris Woodman
Under 19s
Best and Fairest - Peter Geddes
Second Best and Fairest - Robert Zubin
Outstanding Service - Mark Davidson, Michael Giulieri, Neil Fergus
Under 17s
Best and Fairest - Kelvin Richards
Second Best and Fairest - John Ellingworth
Outstanding Service Awards - Jim Durnan, Clinton Love
Best Clubman - Tim Nolan
Media
Age - 23/03/1976
Age - 07/04/1976
Age - 24/08/1976
Age - 22/09/1976
Links
Yearbook image courtesy of grandoldflag.net