Captain - Coach: Percy Beames
Finishing Position: 8th
Best and Fairest: Allan La Fontaine
Leading Goalkicker: Fred Fanning (37)
Best First Year Player: n/a
| Matches | Ladder | Playing List | Tribunal | Seconds | |
After winning the past three VFL premierships, Melbourne entered the new year with most of their premiership players engaged in the war effort, and only three of the 1941 seconds players available. Melbourne voted to cease the competition until the war was won, but other clubs opted to continue.
The Demons stated that it would be unable to field a team unless other sides cleared players from their districts, and considered voluntarily withdrawing as Geelong had done. Talk of a wartime amalgamation with Collingwood was shelved when each side discovered they were better off for players than they'd first thought. In addition to many players, Melbourne had also lost Secretary Percy Page and coach Checker Hughes to retirement.
Percy Beames took over a side with 18 of 36 players from 1941 unavailable, and many of them unavailable at various times during the year. The club had even lost access to the MCG, which was being used as a camp by the US Army. They played home games at Punt Road and trained at the Albert Ground. After losing their first three games, the decimated club recovered to finish eighth on an unbalanced ladder where Carlton, Collingwood, Footscray, North Melbourne and St Kilda had two byes, which carried four premiership points, and other clubs only had one.
In Round 2 war hero Keith Truscott returned to play what would be his final game. He was made honourary captain for the day. That day Melbourne and Richmond set a VFL record for aggregate score in a match, 313 points, that stood until 1972.
Crowds across the league tumbled, now nearly half of what they had been before the war and down nearly 30 per cent on the previous year.
Melbourne's VFL delegates were Joe Blair and Bruce Hogg.
Premiership season
| Round | Opposition | Result | Score | ||
| 1 | Essendon | LOSS | 110-164 | ||
| 2 | Richmond | LOSS | 117-196 | ||
| 3 | Fitzroy | LOSS | 77-133 | ||
| 4 | Hawthorn | WIN | 111-65 | ||
| 5 | South Melbourne | LOSS | 115-148 | ||
| 6 | St. Kilda | LOSS | 45-89 | ||
| 7 | North Melbourne | WIN | 83-76 | ||
| 8 | Collingwood | LOSS | 80-105 | ||
| 9 | BYE | ||||
| 10 | Carlton | LOSS | 67-95 | ||
| 11 | Footscray | LOSS | 95-126 | ||
| 12 | Essendon | WIN | 104-84 | ||
| 13 | Richmond | LOSS | 86-111 | ||
| 14 | Fitzroy | WIN | 85-68 | ||
| 15 | Hawthorn | WIN | 118-57 | ||
| 16 | South Melbourne | LOSS | 91-107 | ||
Ladder
| W | D | L | % | P | |
| Essendon | 12 | 0 | 3 | 127.1 | 52 |
| Richmond | 11 | 0 | 4 | 134.5 | 48 |
| South Melbourne | 11 | 0 | 4 | 129.0 | 48 |
| Footscray | 10 | 0 | 4 | 126.0 | 48 |
| Carlton | 10 | 0 | 4 | 120.2 | 48 |
| Fitzroy | 8 | 0 | 7 | 104.9 | 36 |
| St. Kilda | 6 | 0 | 8 | 81.9 | 32 |
| Melbourne | 5 | 0 | 10 | 85.2 | 24 |
| North Melbourne | 4 | 0 | 10 | 78.2 | 24 |
| Collingwood | 2 | 0 | 12 | 76.0 | 16 |
| Hawthorn | 1 | 0 | 14 | 65.6 | 8 |
Playing list
| Number | Player | Games | Goals | ||
| 1 | Keith Truscott | 1 | 1 | ||
| 2 | Roy Dowsing | 15 | 2 | ||
| 3 | Bob Spargo | 2 | 0 | ||
| 4 | Norm Smith | 10 | 30 | ||
| 5 | Tom Bush | 4 | 2 | ||
| 6 | Fred Fanning | 15 | 37 | ||
| 7 | Jack Heal | 3 | 1 | ||
| 8 | Don Hewson | 8 | 0 | ||
| 9 | Richie Emselle | 13 | 2 | ||
| 10 | Maurie Gibb | 14 | 4 | ||
| 11 | Norm Matthews | 8 | 0 | ||
| 12 | Jack Mueller | 13 | 26 | ||
| 13 | George Lenne | 13 | 0 | ||
| 14 | George Archibald | 11 | 0 | ||
| 15 | Ron Baggott | 7 | 19 | ||
| 16 | Tom Ferguson | 5 | 1 | ||
| 17 | Allan La Fontaine | 12 | 5 | ||
| 18 | Darcy Walsh | 7 | 0 | ||
| 19 | Ray Shearer | 2 | 0 | ||
| 20 | Ted Wood | 2 | 0 | ||
| 21 | Don Cordner | 12 | 2 | ||
| 22 | Arthur Franklin | 3 | 2 | ||
| 23 | Ray Wartman | 1 | 0 | ||
| 24 | Percy Beames | 14 | 28 | ||
| 25 | Hughie McPherson | 9 | 0 | ||
| 26 | Gordon Kramer | 2 | 0 | ||
| 27 | Frank Deayton | 10 | 0 | ||
| 28 | Ted Cordner | 11 | 0 | ||
| 29 | Jack O'Keefe | 5 | 2 | ||
| 29 | Colin Bradley | 4 | 0 | ||
| 30 | Alby Rodda | 8 | 9 | ||
| 31 | Les Gibbs | 9 | 4 | ||
| 32 | Bob Stone | 3 | 0 | ||
| 33 | Bernie Neenan | 1 | 2 | ||
| 34 | Adrian Dullard | 8 | 7 | ||
| 35 | Danny Powell | 7 | 6 | ||
| 36 | Bryan Martin | 3 | 0 | ||
| Billy Deans | 4 | 3 | |||
| Clyde Helmer | 2 | 3 | |||
| Jim McDonald | 1 | 0 | |||
| Jack Minnis | 3 | 0 | |||
Awards
Best clubman - Percy Beames
Most improved - Donald Cordner
Tribunal
| Round | Player | Charge | Sanction | ||
| Round 1 | Norm Smith | Jostling | Not Guilty | ||
| Round 3 | Jack O'Keefe | Elbowing | Not Guilty | ||
| Round 12 | Les Gibbs | Striking | Not Guilty | ||
Seconds
| W | D | L | P | ||
| St Kilda | 10 | 0 | 3 | 48 | |
| Richmond | 11 | 0 | 3 | 48 | |
| Essendon | 9 | 0 | 4 | 44 | |
| Fitzroy | 10 | 0 | 4 | 44 | |
| Footscray | 8 | 0 | 5 | 40 | |
| South Melbourne | 5 | 0 | 8 | 28 | |
| Melbourne | 4 | 0 | 9 | 24 | |
| Carlton | 2 | 0 | 12 | 12 | |
| North Melbourne | 1 | 0 | 12 | 12 | |
Notes
All Seconds teams other than Richmond, Fitzroy and Carlton had two byes.
Some sources suggest Melbourne trained on Punt Road on Monday and Wednesday rather than the Albert Ground.
Pre-season report (Age 02/04/1945) says Bill Farrell would coach the Seconds 'subject to approval of the MCC' but he didn't take up the role.
Media
Argus - 10/03/1942, 20/04/1942, 24/04/1942 - 24/04/1942
Age - 31/03/1942
Links
AFL Tables page
Wikipedia page
Membership image courtesy of grandoldflag.net