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1982

Coach: Ron Barassi
Captain: Robert Flower
Finishing Position: 8th
Best and Fairest: Steven Icke
Leading Goalkicker: Gerard Healy (77)
Best First Year Player: Adrian Battiston
Major Sponsor: Mayne Nickless
Members: 5586

Matches Ladder Playing List Best and Fairest Reserves Under 19s
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Writing in The Age before the start of the season Robbie Flower summed Melbourne's position up by saying: "Nine seasons of mediocrity is hardly the basis for a tenth season of hope but there is more than hope around Melbourne these days". Most fans were willing to forgive the master Barassi the 1981 season, but more was expected from him in 1982.

Training began in late January, with many of the 'experienced' players vying for a spot on the list covered under a new VFL rule governing payments to players with under 40 games experience. 1-10 games would be paid $200 per match, 11-20 $250, 21-30 $300 and 31-40 $350. After their 40th match players would be free to negotiate their own price with the club.

Just 55 players were invited to training, well down on the 88 who had lined up on the first day of 1981. Despite signing a lucrative new contract for the season Mark Jackson showed the first sign that it was going to be an interesting year for him by not even bothering to show up for the first session. A few weeks later he was referred to club psychologist Rudi Webster after clashing with Robbie Flower at training and then abusing Barassi when ordered to go and train with the Under 19’s as punishment. He was fined $1000 for his antics, which involved threatening to hurl a brick at Reserves coach Ray Jordon.

Recruits included Alan Johnson from Perth and Steven Icke, Brian Wilson and Alan Jarrott from North Melbourne. Promoted from the victorious 1981 Under 19's side were Adrian Battiston, Michael O'Sullivan and David Cordner. Johnson had been picked by the Demons as the first "drafted" player under an arrangement the VFL had come to with the WAFL that any player wanting to move east would be subject to being selected by the bottom side in the competition first.

For the first time the MCG had a scoreboard with a screen to show replays. The board cost $4m, a figure met by the manufacturer Mitsubishi with a view to recouping their investment by controlling sponsorship on the scoreboard.

In early April the club announced a plan to revise its senior list every month. Ron Barassi said "The days of a player being awarded a jumper at the start of the season and being automatically on the list for the rest of the year have gone"

The season was an improvement on the one win of 1981, but it was still clear that the Demons weren't going to be challenging for a flag anytime soon. The round 2 win over St. Kilda was their first for a year, but they went on to lose the next five and the season was effectively over. Barassi had asked for five years to get things right when he took over, but it was looking like he'd need 500. Somewhere in the chaos Gerard Healy was having a remarkable season - thrown to the forward line he booted 77 goals and took the spotlight off Mark Jackson, who quit at the end of the year after continual clashes with Barassi.

The Under 19s made their second consecutive grand final despite having to play at different grounds most week due to the MCG being unavailable to them but lost.

The club's end of season trip was to California and Hawaii but an ambitious plan to bring six Americans to the club as a North American version of The Irish Experiment failed when the first recruit Glenn Ryan from Pasadena, California failed to make the grade after three weeks of intensive training. Sean Wight came from Ireland to do the same training program and was far more successful.

During the year Chief Executive Richard Seddon announced a scheme where supporters were invited to take out life insurance policies with the football club as the beneficiaries in the case of death. For $268 investment the club would reap a $100,000 pay-day when the supporter passed away.

The club registered a profit of $17,986, amortising $375,000 of player transfer fees over three years to avoid showing a loss of around $209,000.

Practice Matches

OppositionResultScore
Hawthorn WIN77-128
North Melbourne LOSS95-140

Escort Cup

RoundOppositionResultScore
1 Hawthorn WIN84-41
QF North MelbourneLOSS70-82

Premiership Season

RoundOppositionResultScore
1 SydneyLOSS108-137
2 St. KildaWIN146-106
3 GeelongLOSS46-138
4 FootscrayLOSS126-133
5 CarltonLOSS66-76
6 RichmondLOSS106-116
7 North MelbourneLOSS143-180
8 FitzroyWIN164-99
9 EssendonLOSS85-133
10 CollingwoodWIN120-113
11 HawthornLOSS99-178
12 St. KildaWIN138-95
13 GeelongWIN134-70
14 FootscrayWIN94-92
15 CarltonLOSS111-128
16 RichmondLOSS72-147
17 North MelbourneLOSS113-146
18 FitzroyLOSS93-163
19 EssendonLOSS101-137
20 CollingwoodWIN168-114
21 HawthornLOSS92-103
22 SydneyWIN163-148

Ladder

WDL%P
Richmond1804126.272
Hawthorn1705131.668
Carlton1615127.566
Essendon1606125.264
North Melbourne1408109.656
Fitzroy1219102.550
Sydney12010103.348
Melbourne801490.432
Geelong701590.428
Collingwood401885.516
St. Kilda401871.716
Footscray301968.112

Playing List

NumberPlayerGamesGoals
2 Robert Flower 21 25
3 Gerard Healy 2177
4 Peter Giles 209
5 Michael Young 31
6 Michael O'Sullivan 227
7 Brian Wilson 2127
8 Brent Crosswell 1915
9 Alan Johnson 1720
10 Peter Keenan 160
11 Steven Icke 212
12 Cameron Clayton 10
14 Michael Byrne 10
15 Vin Catoggio 10
16 Adrian Battiston 2225
17 Michael Seddon 173
18 Greg Hutchison 123
19 Bill Nettlefold 10
20 Graham Gaunt 70
22 Chris Connolly 33
23 Kelly O'Donnell 1611
24 Des O'Dwyer 11
25 Mark Jackson 1976
26 Glenn McLean 152
28 David Cordner 33
29 Dale Dickson 184
30 Peter Hamilton 40
32 Shane Zantuck 160
33 Tony Elshaug 1213
34 Roger Ellingworth 116
35 Steven Smith 181
36 Ted Fidge 97
40 Paul O'Brien 130
41 Dave McGlashan 36
44 Scott Sutcliffe 21
46 Peter Tossol 54
47 Alan Jarrott 140
49 Stuart McKenzie 90
52 Stephen McCarthy 66

Tribunal

RoundPlayerChargeSanction
Round 2 Mark Jackson Striking 2 matches
Round 4 Under 19s John DiStefano Striking Unknown
Round 5 Under 19s Ted Fidge Abusive language Unknown
Round 5 Reserves Stephen McCarthy Striking Unknown
Round 9 Mark Jackson Striking 2 matches
Round 10 Brent Crosswell Striking Not Guilty
Round 13 Shane Zantuck Striking 2 matches
Round 21 Brent Crosswell Striking 1 match

Best and Fairest

Player Votes
1st Steven Icke 388
2nd Robert Flower 324
3rd Brian Wilson 271
4th Alan Johnson 237
5th Adrian Battiston 219
6th Michael O'Sullivan 204
7th Gerard Healy 203
8th Peter Keenan 196
9th Kelly O'Donnell 131
10th Mark Jackson 127
11th Peter Giles 123
12th Paul O'Brien 112
13th Shane Zantuck 101
14th Glenn McLean 90
15th Steven Smith 83
16th Brent Crosswell 80
17th Michael Seddon 51
18th Alan Jarrott 50
19th Dale Dickson 42
20th Graham Gaunt 41
21st Stephen McCarthy 24
22nd David Cordner 20
23rd Greg Hutchison 15
24th Tony Elshaug 13
25th Roger Ellingworth 12
26th Ted Fidge 6
27th Stuart McKenzie 6
28th Peter Hamilton 6
29th Dave McGlashan 5

Other Awards
Redlegs Trophy - Michael O'Sullivan

Reserves

1982 Reserves Season
Best and Fairest - Scott Sutcliffe

WDL%P
Geelong1408116.356
St Kilda1408110.456
Richmond1219111.250
Hawthorn12010103.748
North Melbourne12010101.148
Carlton11110115.946
Essendon11011113.344
Fitzroy1101192.544
Melbourne1001287.340
Footscray901381.136
Sydney801486.832
Collingwood701586.028

Under 19s

Best and Fairest - Chris Connolly

WDL%P
Melbourne1606146.464
Geelong1606138.864
Richmond1507127.860
Fitzroy 1507123.760
Carlton 1408119.156
Sydney 1228117.752
North Melbourne11110107.846
Hawthorn1111089.446
Essendon801481.332
Collingwood701584.728
Footscray301960.312
St Kilda202056.58

Finals

RoundOpponentResult
SF Geelong WIN147-87
GF Fitzroy LOSS128-139

Media
Age - 26/08/1981
Age - 17/02/1982
Age - 22/03/1982
Inside Football - 25/03/1982
Age - 30/04/1982
Age - 20/05/1982
Age - 30/11/1982

Created by Supermercado. Last Modification: Monday 29 August 2022 14:42:34 AEST by Supermercado. (Version 58)

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