See also 2024 AFLW season
Coach: Simon Goodwin
Captain: Max Gawn
Finishing Position: 14th
Best and Fairest: Jack Viney
Leading Goalkicker: Bayley Fritsch - 41
Best Young Player: Caleb Windsor
Major Sponsor: Zurich-Hertz
Financial result: +$1.693,787
Members: 64,201
| Practice matches | Ladder | Playing list | Best and Fairest | Tribunal | VFL | Trading and Drafts |
The AFL referred to the first home and away matches of the season as 'Opening Round', with Round 1 played the following week. Melbourne played back-to-back games at the Adelaide Oval in Round 3 and Round 4.
Melbourne started the season with two inactive players due to a provisional drug use suspension for Joel Smith and the enforced retirement of Angus Brayshaw due to concussion. Brayshaw's retirement happened a day after the deadline for the Supplemental Selection Period for clubs to add to their list. They were effectively down three men, with Jake Melksham unavailable for much of the season after injuring his knee in Round 23, 2023.
After losing their first game, Melbourne recovered to win six of their next seven to sit second on the ladder after Round 8. It was the high point of their year, losing Christian Petracca to a season-ending injury in the Round 13 loss to Collingwood, and falling out of the finals race after four consecutive defeats late in the year - their worst run since 2019. A loss in their final game dropped the Demons to 14th, and at the end of the season there was speculation that Petracca would seek a trade despite having several years left on his contract.
The club made an operating profit despite incurring $925,680 in legal costs and a $3,123,612 payment to finalise the contract of Angus Brayshaw.
At the end of the year a contested board election was held. The club's endorsed candidates were elected - Steven Smith (8363 votes), Sally Freeman (6833 votes), Angela Williams (6276 votes) and Chris Barlow (5934 votes), defeating Peter Lawrence (2178), Tony Pagone (1953), Ron Gelberg (1181), Jo McCoy (1088) and Patrick Roseman (725).
Practice matches
| Opposition | Result | Score | ||||
| Richmond | LOSS | 94-117 | ||||
| Carlton | WIN | 101-63 | ||||
Premiership season
| Round | Opposition | Result | Score | |||
| 1A | Sydney | LOSS | 64-86 | |||
| 1B | Western Bulldogs | WIN | 109-64 | |||
| 2 | Hawthorn | WIN | 93-38 | |||
| 3 | Port Adelaide | WIN | 96-89 | |||
| 4 | Adelaide | WIN | 78-63 | |||
| 5 | Brisbane Lions | LOSS | 60-82 | |||
| 6 | BYE | |||||
| 7 | Richmond | WIN | 85-42 | |||
| 8 | Geelong | WIN | 74-66 | |||
| 9 | Carlton | LOSS | 76-77 | |||
| 10 | West Coast | LOSS | 70-105 | |||
| 11 | St Kilda | WIN | 100-62 | |||
| 12 | Fremantle | LOSS | 49-141 | |||
| 13 | Collingwood | LOSS | 51-89 | |||
| 14 | BYE | |||||
| 15 | North Melbourne | WIN | 70-67 | |||
| 16 | Brisbane Lions | LOSS | 81-86 | |||
| 17 | West Coast | WIN | 112-58 | |||
| 18 | Essendon | WIN | 84-67 | |||
| 19 | Fremantle | LOSS | 66-116 | |||
| 20 | Greater Western Sydney | LOSS | 83-85 | |||
| 21 | Western Bulldogs | LOSS | 59-110 | |||
| 22 | Port Adelaide | LOSS | 51-53 | |||
| 23 | Gold Coast | WIN | 117-63 | |||
| 24 | Collingwood | LOSS | 57-103 | |||
Ladder
| W | D | L | % | P | ||
| Sydney | 17 | 0 | 6 | 126.7 | 68 | |
| Port Adelaide | 16 | 0 | 7 | 114.8 | 64 | |
| Geelong | 15 | 0 | 8 | 112.2 | 60 | |
| Greater Western Sydney | 15 | 0 | 8 | 109.1 | 60 | |
| Brisbane Lions | 14 | 1 | 8 | 121.9 | 58 | |
| Western Bulldogs | 14 | 0 | 9 | 125.1 | 56 | |
| Hawthorn | 14 | 0 | 9 | 118.5 | 56 | |
| Carlton | 13 | 0 | 10 | 110.2 | 52 | |
| Collingwood | 12 | 2 | 9 | 102.5 | 52 | |
| Fremantle | 12 | 1 | 10 | 111.9 | 50 | |
| Essendon | 11 | 1 | 11 | 93.5 | 46 | |
| St Kilda | 11 | 0 | 12 | 99.4 | 44 | |
| Gold Coast | 11 | 0 | 12 | 99.1 | 44 | |
| Melbourne | 11 | 0 | 12 | 98.5 | 44 | |
| Adelaide | 8 | 1 | 14 | 99.1 | 34 | |
| West Coast | 5 | 0 | 18 | 68.1 | 20 | |
| North Melbourne | 3 | 0 | 20 | 63.5 | 12 | |
| Richmond | 2 | 0 | 21 | 63.7 | 8 | |
Playing list
| Number | Player | Games | Goals | |||
| 1 | Steven May | 19 | 1 | |||
| 2 | Jacob van Rooyen | 21 | 30 | |||
| 3 | Christian Salem | 17 | 1 | |||
| 5 | Christian Petracca | 13 | 14 | |||
| 6 | Caleb Windsor | 19 | 8 | |||
| 7 | Jack Viney | 23 | 10 | |||
| 8 | Jake Lever | 18 | 1 | |||
| 9 | Charlie Spargo | 1 | 0 | |||
| 10 | Angus Brayshaw | 0 | 0 | |||
| 11 | Max Gawn | 21 | 11 | |||
| 12 | Lachie Hunter | 2 | 1 | |||
| 13 | Clayton Oliver | 21 | 3 | |||
| 14 | Jack Billings | 16 | 4 | |||
| 15 | Ed Langdon | 22 | 9 | |||
| 16 | Bailey Laurie | 6 | 2 | |||
| 17 | Jake Bowey | 14 | 0 | |||
| 19 | Josh Schache | 1 | 0 | |||
| 20 | Adam Tomlinson | 8 | 0 | |||
| 21 | Matthew Jefferson | 0 | 0 | |||
| 22 | Blake Howes | 16 | 0 | |||
| 23 | Shane McAdam | 3 | 1 | |||
| 24 | Trent Rivers | 23 | 2 | |||
| 25 | Tom McDonald | 22 | 3 | |||
| 26 | Jed Adams | 0 | 0 | |||
| 29 | Joel Smith | 0 | 0 | |||
| 30 | Alex Neal-Bullen | 23 | 9 | |||
| 31 | Bayley Fritsch | 23 | 41 | |||
| 32 | Tom Sparrow | 21 | 6 | |||
| 33 | Tom Fullarton | 0 | 0 | |||
| 35 | Harrison Petty | 20 | 9 | |||
| 36 | Kysaiah Pickett | 21 | 36 | |||
| 37 | Kade Chandler | 23 | 18 | |||
| 39 | Koltyn Tholstrup | 10 | 5 | |||
| 40 | Taj Woewodin | 16 | 1 | |||
| 42 | Daniel Turner | 15 | 17 | |||
| 50 | Ben Brown | 6 | 7 | |||
Rookie list
| Number | Player | Games | Goals | |||
| 4 | Judd McVee | 23 | 1 | |||
| 18 | Jake Melksham | 8 | 8 | |||
| 27 | Marty Hore | 6 | 0 | |||
| 28 | Will Verrall | 0 | 0 | |||
| 38 | Oliver Sestan | 0 | 0 | |||
| 41 | Kynan Brown | 2 | 0 | |||
| 43 | Kyah Farris-White | 0 | 0 | |||
| 44 | Luker Kentfield | 0 | 0 | |||
| 45 | Andy Moniz-Wakefield | 6 | 0 | |||
Best and Fairest
| Player | Votes | |||||
| 1 | Jack Viney | 407 | ||||
| 2 | Max Gawn | 405 | ||||
| 3 | Alex Neal-Bullen | 402 | ||||
| 4 | Kysaiah Pickett | 369 | ||||
| 5 | Ed Langdon | 352 | ||||
| 6 | Trent Rivers | 350 | ||||
| 7 | Judd McVee | 347 | ||||
| 8 | Kade Chandler | 337 | ||||
| 9 | Steven May | 316 | ||||
| 10 | Tom McDonald | 301 | ||||
Other awards
Best VFL player - Matthew Jefferson
James McDonald Trophy - Ed Langdon
Club Ambassador - Ben Brown
Leadership Award - Jake Melksham
Coaches Award - Trent Rivers
Tribunal
| Round | Player | Charge | Sanction | |||
| Round 2 | Jake Lever | Misconduct | $1250 fine | |||
| Round 3 | Trent Rivers | Rough conduct | $2500 fine | |||
| Round 4 | Kysaiah Pickett | Dangerous conduct | 1 match | |||
| Round 4 | Jacob van Rooyen | Striking | $2500 fine | |||
| Round 15 | Steven May | Staging | $1250 fine | |||
| Round 15 | Blake Howes | Engaging in a melee | $1250 fine | |||
| Round 15 | Judd McVee | Engaging in a melee | $1250 fine | |||
| Round 15 | Koltyn Tholstrup | Engaging in a melee | $1250 fine | |||
| Round 15 | Daniel Turner | Engaging in a melee | $1250 fine | |||
| Round 15 | Jack Viney | Engaging in a melee | $1250 fine | |||
| Round 15 | Harrison Petty | Engaging in a melee | $1875 fine | |||
| Round 19 | Alex Neal-Bullen | Umpire contact | $1250 fine | |||
| Round 21 | Clayton Oliver | Engaging in a melee | $1250 fine | |||
| Round 22 | Harrison Petty | Engaging in a melee | $3125 fine | |||
| Round 23 | Jack Viney | Rough conduct | $6250 fine | |||
| Round 23 | Jacob van Rooyen | Striking | $3750 fine | |||
| Round 24 | Kysaiah Pickett | Rough conduct | 3 matches | |||
| Round 24 | Marty Hore | Forceful front on contact | $2500 fine | |||
Media
melbournefc.com.au - 05/10/2024, 17/12/2024
Links
AFL Tables page