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1983

Coach: Ron Barassi
Captain: Robert Flower
Finishing Position: 8th
Best and Fairest: Alan Johnson
Leading Goalkicker: Robert Flower (40)
Best First Year Player: Russell Richards
Major Sponsor: Mayne Nickless
Members: 6037

Matches Ladder Playing List Best and Fairest Reserves Under 19s

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After an improved 1982, Ron Barassi was in a fighting mood - telling fans at the annual meeting that: “Melbourne is going to give cheek. No longer is Melbourne going to the goodie goodie of the league. We are going to be in the dirtiest stuff possible”. He was evasive when asked what that meant, only saying the dirty stuff had “been done to us for years”.

After years of failure Melbourne found the money for a pair of big-name recruits to join Ron Barassi's side. Peter Moore came easily from Collingwood, but Kelvin Templeton required a trip to the newly formed VFL Appeals Board to win his clearance from Footscray. The Demons were believed to have paid $150,000 for his services. Both players had issued writs in the Supreme Court to win their freedom but Collingwood let their player go far easier than the Bulldogs who fought tooth and nail to retain Templeton even after two injury prone seasons.

The Demons paid approximately $300,000 for Templeton and Moore and got Rodney Wright from North Melbourne in a straight swap for Andrew Moir. Despite speculation that Greg Wells might return the midfielder stayed at Carlton. Despite kicking 152 goals in two seasons Mark Jackson transferred to St Kilda for just $40,000.

Barassi laid down the law to his players in a pre-season memo. In part it said “Some footballers think that because they play VFL football the world owes them a living. This attitude is totally unrealistic because, for example, at least half the city of Melbourne couldn't give a damn about VFL football or its performers. The other half, if they think about it (and some do) would realise that being good enough to play VFL football only proves that you are good at playing football”. He reminded players of a club policy that they wouldn’t consider players unless they were working or seriously looking for a job.

Ironically, Barassi was the first man on the end of disciplinary action. After a $35,000 refurbishment of their MCG rooms - including $6500 spent on blue carpet - players were ordered to remove their boots before walking on the carpet or be fined $10. The coach was the only man caught out twice.

The first stirring of discontent about Barassi's performance came in the week after the Demons fifth straight loss when Derryn Hinch, who had already lost $5000 betting on Melbourne making the finals in 1981, questioning Richard Seddon on the suggestion that Barassi would leave at the end of the year. Seddon replied that Barassi was "committed to Melbourne until the job is done".

His side responded with a victory the next week and the big recruits, and a core of emerging youngsters, rebounded to takek the Demons to the brink of a long awaited finals berth. Their fourth win in a row in Round 16 put them outside the 5 on percentage, but five losses in the next six games - with the only win against wooden spooners St. Kilda - saw them slide out of contention. An 86 point hiding at the hands of high flying Fitzroy in Round 19 confirmed that they'd miss the finals once again. Playing the top four teams in the last month of the season didn't help, but it did confirm that the side weren't good enough.

Despite missing finals again, a poll commissioned by the VFL found that 58% of Demon supporters ranked Barassi as a "great" coach, while only 10% called him "poor". The confidence rating was the sixth highest in the league despite the third year of the five year plan ending in disappointment.

Asked about his side's performance at the end of the year the coach said "The lack of depth of players is one of the biggest problems, particularly rovers. Also, we weren't helped by our two "name" recruits not producing great seasons."

The Under 19s reached their third consecutive grand final and won their second premiership of the 1980's. Barassi missed his mate Ray Jordon and team score the flag as he was on the other side of the world in Bristol, Connecticut acting as an expert commentator on ESPN's US television coverage of the Grand Final.

Despite missing out on the Under 19 Best and Fairest Greg Healy won the Morrish Medal for Best Player in the competition.

The club made $7,302 for the year. During the year the club had agreed to help settle a dispute between the VFL and MCC which threatened Melbourne and Richmond games at the MCG by offering to pay $0.60 in every $6 which came through the turnstile for ground maintenance.

Practice Matches

OppositionResult
Sydney WIN
Hawthorn LOSS
North Melbourne LOSS

Stirling Cup

RoundOppositionResult
1 North Melbourne LOSS

Premiership Season

RoundOppositionResult
1 Collingwood LOSS
2 Richmond WIN
3 Footscray LOSS
4 Carlton LOSS
5 Geelong WIN
6 Sydney WIN
7 St. Kilda WIN
8 Fitzroy LOSS
9 Essendon LOSS
10 Hawthorn LOSS
11 North Melbourne LOSS
12 Collingwood LOSS
13 Richmond WIN
14 Footscray WIN
15 Carlton WIN
16 Geelong WIN
17 Sydney LOSS
18 St. Kilda WIN
19 Fitzroy LOSS
20 Essendon LOSS
21 Hawthorn LOSS
22 North Melbourne LOSS

Playing list

NumberPlayerGamesGoals
2 Robert Flower 2040
3 Gerard Healy1937
4 Peter Giles 169
6 Michael O'Sullivan 10
7 Brian Wilson 2139
8 Les Bamblett 1112
9 Alan Johnson 1811
10 Peter Moore 169
11 Steven Icke 2112
12 David Williams 43
14 Roger Ellingworth 1810
16 Adrian Battiston 128
17 Michael Seddon 122
18 Greg Hutchison 20
19 Rodney Wright 153
20 Russell Richards 191
21 Peter Tossol 22
22 Chris Connolly 217
23 Kelly O'Donnell 217
24 Stephen McCarthy 63
26 Glenn McLean 226
28 David Cordner 62
29 Dale Dickson 185
30 Peter Hamilton 20
31 Kelvin Templeton 1338
32 Shane Zantuck 213
33 Tony Elshaug 1425
35 Steven Smith 170
36 Ted Fidge 911
39 Trevor Castles 10
40 Paul O'Brien 20
43 Frank Rugolo 21
44 Scott Sutcliffe 51
45 Glenn Boland 90
46 Michael Reynolds 69
47 Alan Jarrott 185

Ladder

WDL%P
North Melbourne1606127.864
Hawthorn1507128.760
Fitzroy1507126.760
Essendon1507120.360
Carlton1309105.252
Collingwood12010103.048
Footscray1001286.640
Melbourne901386.836
Geelong801487.932
Richmond701588.828
Sydney701577.528
St. Kilda501778.620

Best and Fairest

PlayerVotes
1st Alan Johnson 402
2nd Robert Flower 361
3rd Steven Icke 316
4th Chris Connolly 304
5th Glenn McLean 252
6th Peter Giles 213
7th Alan Jarrott 201
8th Steven Smith 191
9th Kelly O'Donnell 149
10th Brian Wilson 138
11th Rodney Wright 117
12th Russell Richards 112
13th Peter Moore 99
14th Shane Zantuck 98
15th Tony Elshaug 97
16th Michael Seddon 92
17th Dale Dickson 77
18th Les Bamblett 76
19th Gerard Healy 55
20th Adrian Battiston 45
21st Roger Ellingworth 34
22nd Kelvin Templeton 32
23rd Greg Hutchison 20
24th Ted Fidge 19
25th Glenn Boland 18
26th David Williams 18
27th Paul O'Brien 15
28th Michael Reynolds 6

Other Awards
Redlegs Trophy - Chris Connolly

Tribunal

RoundPlayerChargeSanction
Round 3 Adrian Battiston Insulting Language Not Guilty
Round 19 1983 Under 19s Brett Dawson Striking Unknown
Round 19 1983 Under 19s Rod Grinter Striking Unknown
Round 19 1983 Under 19s Michael Howard Striking Unknown

Reserves

1983 Reserves Season
Best and Fairest - Trevor Castles
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Under 19s

Captain - Michael O'Sullivan
Best and Fairest - Mark McDonald

WDL%P
North Melbourne 1903207.3876
Fitzroy 1705145.9768
Melbourne 1705143.3268
Richmond 1705133.0668
Collingwood 1417113.3658
Geelong12010106.2748
Carlton901382.4936
Footscray711476.6630
Hawthorn601671.6724
St Kilda601670.0724
Sydney401868.1216
Essendon301968.0712

Finals

RoundOppositionResult
QF Fitzroy WIN
SF North Melbourne LOSS
PF Collingwood WIN
GF North MelbourneWIN

Media
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Canberra Times - 06/04/1983
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Age - 28/09/1983