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1996

Coach: Neale Balme
Captain: Garry Lyon
Finishing Position: 14th
Best and Fairest: Jim Stynes
Leading Goalkicker: David Neitz and Jeff Farmer (40 goals)
Best First Year Player: Darren O'Brien
Sponsors: Toohey's Blue
Members: 12,964

Matches Ladder Playing List Best and Fairest Reserves

After missing the finals in the last game of the year in 1995, Melbourne was handed what it considered to be an unfair draw for the league's centenary season. They only had nine matches, of 11 total, at the MCG, which was less than Essendon, North Melbourne or Richmond, and level with Collingwood who weren't even full time tenants of the ground. They were also due to travel to all five interstate venues and scheduled for a pair of home games at Princes Park, a ground where main sponsor Tooheys was unable to display signage. Melbourne had already been forced to do pre-season at Elsternwick because the Junction Oval was not available.

Third year coach Neil Balme was dealt a series of cruel blows in the pre-season. First Todd Viney announced early in the year he was retiring to take up a position in the entourage of tennis player Mark Phillopousis, then David Schwarz injured his knee for the third time in a pre-season reserves practice match. Sean Charles, Steven Febey, Shaun Smith and Stephen Tingay also suffered injuries while Garry Lyon and Andrew Obst both entered the season under an injury cloud. The Dees entered Round 1 with only 34 players to choose from - and two of those were the twins David and Donald Cockatoo-Collins, expected to spend the year developing with their school teams.

Stung by the bad luck the Demons crashed to a 1-8 start, and despite Viney returning for Round 2, the season was a bust. Off-field matters soon became the focus, a press conference on the Monday after Round 17 confirmed the club was in talks with Hawthorn over a merger. Fitzroy and Brisbane had just merged, and it appeared the Melbourne Hawks were a fait accompli.

Ironically the two sides were drawn together in Round 22. Hawthorn would play finals, prolonging the history of their club for a few more weeks, but depending on the verdict of the members it could have been the Demons last match. The two sides duly served up a classic, with the Hawks winning by a point after Jason Dunstall kicked nine goals - including his 100th for the season.

A meeting on September 16 at Dallas Brookes Hall voted against the merger, but when proxies were counted the 'members' had voted to put their club out of existence. The Demons were saved when the Hawthorn members overwhelmingly rejected what they saw as a takeover of their financially embattled club. Despite the turmoil, the club made a profit of $267,000 for the year, despite spending $250,000 on the failed merger.

Ivan Bartul, Greg Doyle, Ashley Gehling, David Grant, Jeff Hilton, Glenn Molloy, Luke Norman, and Michael Polley were delisted at the end of the season. Gehling was redrafted the same year.

A contested 1996 board election saw Joseph Gutnick, Bill Balcam, Mark Jenkins, Ian Johnson, Kevin Jones, Stuart Spencer and Anthony Rodbard-Bean reelected with over 2500 votes. Angus Graham replaced Garry Pearce, while Gerald Clarke and Aris Imbardelli were both defeated.

Lightning Premiership

RoundOppositionResultScore
1 North Melbourne LOSS22-23

Practice Matches

OppositionResultScore
Collingwood WIN101-75
Hawthorn WIN82-68
Essendon LOSS59-89
Sydney LOSS32-114

Ansett Australia Cup

RoundOppositionResultScore
1 Adelaide LOSS65-124

Home and Away

RoundOppositionResultScore
1 Geelong LOSS56-183
2 Collingwood LOSS79-173
3 St. Kilda WIN98-88
4 Carlton LOSS86-133
5 Fremantle LOSS59-96
6 West Coast LOSS50-156
7 Sydney LOSS38-82
8 Hawthorn LOSS71-122
9 Essendon LOSS77-89
10 Collingwood WIN114-76
11 Fitzroy WIN119-56
12 Brisbane Bears LOSS46-123
13 Adelaide WIN123-72
14 Footscray WIN94-67
15 Richmond LOSS81-127
16 Geelong LOSS30-88
17 North Melbourne LOSS70-183
18 Sydney LOSS52-115
19 Carlton WIN129-110
20 Fremantle WIN92-71
21 West Coast LOSS78-151
22 Hawthorn LOSS101-102

Playing List

NumberNameGamesGoals
1 Sean Charles 30
2 Stephen Tingay 16 11
3 Garry Lyon 6 15
4 Andrew Obst 22 8
5 David Schwarz 0 0
6 Glenn Lovett 15 4
7 Darren Kowal 22 2
8 Craig Turley 16 8
9 David Neitz 22 56
10 Marcus Seecamp 14 2
11 Jim Stynes 22 7
12 Todd Viney 12 1
13 Adem Yze 19 9
14 Michael Polley 5 0
15 Paul Hopgood 21 3
16 David Grant 7 0
17 Brett Lovett 20 9
18 Craig Nettelbeck 20 10
19 Paul Prymke 4 0
20 Matthew Febey 21 6
21 Steven Febey 5 0
22 Jeff Hilton 5 2
23 Alastair Clarkson 22 13
24 Clay Sampson 8 1
25 Luke Norman 7 0
26 Greg Doyle 7 5
27 Anthony Ingerson 18 10
28 Glenn Molloy 4 0
29 Shaun Smith 17 21
30 David Cockatoo-Collins 1 0
31 Donald Cockatoo-Collins 2 0
32 Damien Gaspar 8 0
33 Jeff Farmer 19 37
34 Dean Irving 9 1
35 Trent Ormond-Allen 7 1
36 Andrew Leoncelli 7 3
37 Andrew Lamprill 13 0
38 Darren O'Brien 13 7
39 Ashley Gehling 0 0
40 Mark Bradly 0 0
43 Ivan Bartul 0 0
45 Todd McHardy 3 1

Best and Fairest

PlayerVotes
1st Jim Stynes 444
2nd Alastair Clarkson 284
3rd Andrew Obst 278
4th David Neitz 274
5th Glenn Lovett 266
6th Todd Viney 244
7th Brett Lovett 220
8th Stephen Tingay 213
9th Shaun Smith 202
10th Craig Turley 180
11th Matthew Febey 141
12th Paul Hopgood 114
13th Jeff Farmer 80
14th Anthony Ingerson 69
15th Craig Nettelbeck 58
16th Darren O'Brien 46
17th Garry Lyon 45
18th Adem Yze 36
19th Paul Prymke 35
20th Andrew Lamprill 29
21st Greg Doyle 24
22nd Marcus Seecamp 23
23rd Andrew Leoncelli 21
24th David Grant 13
25th Luke Norman 12
26th Todd McHardy 9
27th Darren Kowal 6
28th Dean Irving 5

Other Awards
Most Improved - Jeff Farmer
Best Team Player - Brett Lovett
Most Consistent - Andrew Obst
Best Clubman - Stephen Tingay
Inspirational Player - Alastair Clarkson

Reserves

1996 Reserves Season
Best and Fairest - Anthony McDonald
Second Best and Fairest - Paul Corrigan
Third Best and Fairest - Christian Davidson
Image
Tribunal

RoundPlayerChargeSanction
Round 2 Jim Stynes Melee Withdrawn
Round 2 David Neitz Melee Not Guilty
Round 2 Craig Nettelbeck Melee Withdrawn
Round 2 Andrew Obst Melee Not Guilty
Round 2 Donald Cockatoo-Collins Melee $1000 fine
Round 3 Jeff Hilton Wrestling $2000
Round 3 Marcus Seecamp Wrestling Not Guilty
Round 15 Jeff Hilton Striking Cleared
Round 15 Darren Kowal Misconduct $1500 fine
Round 19 Todd Viney Striking 1 match
Round 19 Paul Hopgood Striking 1 match
Round 20 Anthony Ingerson Striking 2 matches

Media
Age - 30/11/1995
Age - 25/02/1996
Age - 18/10/1996
Age - 08/12/1996
Age - 11/12/1996

Created by Supermercado. Last Modification: Thursday 02 February 2023 15:00:19 AEDT by Supermercado. (Version 52)

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