Coach: Neale Balme (until Round 9) - Greg Hutchison (from Round 10)
Captain: Garry Lyon
Finishing Position: 16th (last)
Best and Fairest: Jim Stynes
Leading Goalkicker: David Neitz / Jeff Farmer (30)
Best First Year Player: Anthony McDonald
Sponsors: Tooheys Blue
Members: 15,350

Matches

Ladder

Playing List

Best and Fairest

Reserves

Having barely survived a merger with Hawthorn after Hawks fans rejected it, the Demons entered 1997 as one of the popular picks for last place. It didn't help that their Round 1 match pitted them with the reigning premiers. To the shock of the football world the Demons upset North on a Friday night at the MCG.

The team came back down to earth the next week when they were massacred by Collingwood. Despite narrow losses over the next two weeks, players were dropping like flies with injuries.

In a radio interview during the humiliating Round 6 loss against St. Kilda at Waverley Joseph Gutnick hinted that there were big changes on the way at Melbourne. The next week Hassa Mann resigned as CEO and was replaced by Cameron Schwab. Balme struggled through three more losses, culminating in a shambolic two goal performance against Port at Football Park in Round 9. Balme was relieved of his duties, and after Garry Lyon had turned back the opportunity to take the job assistant Greg Hutchison was given the reigns for the rest of the season.

His side shocked Richmond in that week, but soon enough normal service resumed. There were another four disappointing losses before a surprise round 15 victory over Carlton. The side wouldn't win again until Round 22 when they ruined Fremantle's hopes with a win at the MCG.

The Round 17 game against Collingwood was originally scheduled for Victoria Park, but was transferred to the MCG during pre-season.

In July Danny Corcoran joined from Essendon as Football Operations Manager.

At the end of the year Andrew Obst retired and all of Nick Pesch, Andrew Lamprill, Clayton Gardiner, Alastair Clarkson, Robert Pyman, Todd McHardy and Darren O'Brien were delisted.

At the end of the year a panel including Corcoran chose Neale Daniher as the full-time coach over Hutchison, Damien Drum and Peter Schwab.

The club made a profit of $333,858 and also received $500,000 from AFL TV rights.

Practice Matches

Opposition	Result	Score
Richmond	WIN	93-55
Collingwood	WIN	88-43
Sydney	WIN	89-44

Ansett Australia Cup

Round	Opposition	Result	Score
1	Carlton	LOSS	64-87

Premiership Season

Round	Opposition	Result	Score
1	North Melbourne	WIN	70-55
2	Collingwood	LOSS	56-163
3	Sydney	LOSS	91-99
4	Western Bulldogs	LOSS	87-89
5	West Coast	LOSS	78-126
6	St. Kilda	LOSS	35-121
7	Fremantle	LOSS	69-124
8	Geelong	LOSS	49-128
9	Port Adelaide	LOSS	27-78
10	Richmond	WIN	92-67
11	Adelaide	LOSS	45-97
12	Brisbane Lions	LOSS	50-135
13	Hawthorn	LOSS	55-118
14	Essendon	LOSS	57-120
15	Carlton	WIN	119-100
16	North Melbourne	LOSS	58-114
17	Collingwood	LOSS	82-134
18	Sydney	LOSS	53-169
19	Western Bulldogs	LOSS	64-102
20	West Coast	LOSS	59-97
21	St. Kilda	LOSS	62-114
22	Fremantle	WIN	119-79

Ladder

	W	D	L	%	P
St. Kilda	15	0	7	119.6	60
Geelong	15	0	7	117.9	60
Western Bulldogs	14	0	8	101.8	56
Adelaide	13	0	9	121.6	52
West Coast	13	0	9	111.2	52
Sydney	12	0	10	116.2	48
North Melbourne	12	0	10	111.8	48
Brisbane	10	1	11	105.2	42
Port Adelaide	10	1	11	91.8	42
Collingwood	10	0	12	111.4	40
Carlton	10	0	12	96.7	40
Fremantle	10	0	12	91.9	40
Richmond	10	0	12	83.6	40
Essendon	9	0	13	92.4	36
Hawthorn	8	0	14	87.4	32
Melbourne	4	0	18	60.8	16

Playing List

Number	Player	Games	Goals
1	Sean Charles	18	17
2	Stephen Tingay	3	0
3	Garry Lyon	5	7
4	Andrew Obst	18	3
5	David Schwarz	10	18
6	Glenn Lovett	14	3
7	Darren Kowal	6	1
9	David Neitz	17	30
10	Marcus Seecamp	15	0
11	Jim Stynes	22	3
12	Todd Viney	22	7
13	Adem Yze	19	9
14	Leigh Newton	13	6
15	Paul Hopgood	20	2
16	Robert Pyman	19	8
17	Brett Lovett	18	4
18	Craig Nettelbeck	13	5
20	Matthew Febey	11	0
21	Steven Febey	20	2
22	Shane Woewodin	22	4
23	Alastair Clarkson	19	11
27	Anthony Ingerson	22	4
28	Nick Pesch	4	0
29	Shaun Smith	12	9
30	David Cockatoo-Collins	1	0
31	Donald Cockatoo-Collins	4	4
32	Damien Gaspar	12	0
33	Jeff Farmer	17	30
34	Dean Irving	2	0
35	Anthony McDonald	19	7
36	Andrew Leoncelli	12	1
37	Andrew Lamprill	3	0
38	Darren O'Brien	11	2
42	Russell Robertson	3	5
44	Alistair Nicholson	1	0
45	Todd McHardy	2	0
48	Brent Grgic	9	5
54	James McDonald	4	3

Best and Fairest

	Player	Votes
1st	Jim Stynes	404
2nd	Todd Viney	355
3rd	Andrew Leoncelli	185
4th	Glenn Lovett	179
5th	Anthony Ingerson	163
6th	Robert Pyman	155
7th	Adem Yze	128
8th	Marcus Seecamp	123
9th	Paul Hopgood	103
10th	Steven Febey	102
11th	Anthony McDonald	102
12th	Alastair Clarkson	99
13th	David Neitz	99
14th	Jeff Farmer	59
15th	Shane Woewodin	58
16th	Shaun Smith	47
17th	Damien Gaspar	43
18th	Andrew Obst	23
19th	Craig Nettelbeck	22
20th	Sean Charles	18
21st	Matthew Febey	17
22nd	Brent Grgic	12
23rd	Garry Lyon	12
24th	Leigh Newton	11
25th	Russell Robertson	11
26th	Darren O'Brien	4

Other Awards
Most Improved - Brent Grgic
Most Consistent - Jim Stynes
Best Team Player - Anthony Ingerson
Inspirational Player - Todd Viney
Redlegs Player of the Year - Todd Viney
Jim Cardwell Award - Todd Viney
Trainers' Award - Marcus Seecamp
Redlegs Trophy (Best Clubman) - Shane Woewodin

Tribunal

Round	Player	Charge	Sanction
Round 3	Jeff Farmer	Striking	2 matches
Round 3	Andrew Obst	Striking	1 match
Round 6	David Neitz	Wrestling	1 match payment
Round 6	Todd Viney	Wrestling	1 match payment
Round 6	Andrew Obst	Striking	Not Guilty
Round 9	Donald Cockatoo-Collins	Headbutting	Two matches
Round 9	Damien Gaspar	Charging	Not Guilty
Round 13	Marcus Seecamp	Striking	1 match
Round 17	Adem Yze	Wrestling	1 week pay, 1 match payment.
Round 19	Marcus Seecamp	Kneeing	2 matches
Round 20	Andrew Obst	Striking	2 matches

Reserves

1997 Reserves Season

Best and Fairest

	Player	Votes
1st	Heath Goodale	222
2nd	Dean Irving	197
3rd	Russell Robertson	121
4th	Leigh Newton	83
5th	Nathan Bassett	74
6th	Mark Bradly	69
7th	Todd McHardy	68
8th	Nick Pesch	66
9th	Andrew Lamprill	54
10th	Darren O'Brien	52
11th	David Cockatoo-Collins	50
12th	James McDonald	45
12th	Marcus Seecamp	45
14th	Mark Winterton	44
15th	Brent Grgic	41
16th	Alistair Nicholson	38
16th	Clayton Gardiner	38
18th	Craig Black	34
19th	Daniel Ward	33
20th	Alastair Clarkson	32
21st	Anthony Hardie	29
21st	Mark Bolton	29
23rd	Donald Cockatoo-Collins	26
23rd	Adem Yze	26
25th	Darren Kowal	24
25th	Craig Nettelbeck	24
25th	Jeremy Sutcliffe	24
28th	Guy Rigoni	23
29th	Hayden Lamaro	21
30th	Andrew Obst	19
31st	Brett Lovett	18
32nd	Fraser Stevenson	13
33rd	Matthew Febey	10
34th	Lee Anderson	10
35th	Duncan O'Toole	6
36th	Chris Frost	5

Media
Age - 22/02/1997

Links
Demon Chronicle