Coach: Frank Hughes
Captain: Ivor Warne-Smith
Finishing Position: 1st
Best and Fairest: Jack Mueller
Leading Goalkicker: Norm Smith (54)
Best First Year Player: n/a
Members: 1919

Matches

Ladder

Playing List

Best and Fairest

Seconds

Entering the 13th season since their last premiership victory, Melbourne fans were starting to get restless and missing out on the finals in 1938 hadn't helped them.

The league introduced new rules, as forced on them by the Australian National Football Council, with a holding the ball rule and a return to Victoria's favoured method of handling out of bounds - reintroducing the boundary throw-in instead of giving away free kicks. The new holding the ball rule proved controversial in the first few weeks of the season.

Having finished fifth a season earlier the thoughts of some turned to more immediate 'revenge' against an 'auld enemy'. A Mr J Smith penned his own ode to Melbourne's longtime rivals before the start of the season.

"Owed" To Collingwood by J.O Smith
They're sanguine - very,
That the flag of this year's fight
Will float o'er the banks of Merri,
Crossed with bars of black and white.
We have got a strong impression
That the boys in red and blue
Have learnt a useful lesson
And they've learnt it most from you.
There's a little score to settle
That has long been overdue;
You have got us on our mettle,
And we'll square accounts with you.''

In one of the most unpredictable VFL seasons to date the ode proved prophetic as the two sides met in the Grand Final but not without a struggle. Melbourne's up and down form saw them shatter records by racking up the fifteen scores of 100+ points (including nine in a row at one stage) but also barely falling over the line against struggling teams like Hawthorn and South Melbourne late in the season.

To add to the confusion the season finished a week later due a round of postponements on Saturday 26 August due to the terrible condition of most league grounds. A long spell of rain had put the brakes on what had been the highest scoring season in history, aided by the return of the boundary thrown in which had been abolished in 1925.

The Seconds also won the premiership.

Melbourne's delegates to the VFL were Joe Blair and Bruce Hogg.

Home and Away

Round	Opposition	Result	Score
1	Richmond	LOSS	84-121
2	Essendon	WIN	141-135
3	St. Kilda	WIN	112-81
4	North Melbourne	WIN	110-74
5	Geelong	WIN	106-90
6	South Melbourne	WIN	137-30
7	Fitzroy	WIN	122-99
8	Footscray	WIN	122-103
9	Carlton	LOSS	103-133
10	Collingwood	WIN	154-60
11	Hawthorn	WIN	54-52
12	Richmond	WIN	106-99
13	Essendon	LOSS	60-77
14	St. Kilda	WIN	102-78
15	North Melbourne	WIN	102-60
16	Geelong	WIN	148-95
17	South Melbourne	WIN	84-80
18	Fitzroy	WIN	81-35
SF	Collingwood	WIN	104-90
GF	Collingwood	WIN	148-95

Exhibition Matches

Opposition	Result
Essendon	LOSS	67-128

Ladder

	W	D	L	%	P
Melbourne	15	0	3	128.4	60
Collingwood	15	0	3	122.0	60
Richmond	13	0	5	118.0	52
St. Kilda	13	0	5	116.5	52
Carlton	12	0	6	123.1	48
Essendon	8	0	10	97.0	32
Geelong	7	0	11	92.4	28
Fitzroy	6	1	11	89.2	26
North Melbourne	6	0	12	91.3	24
Hawthorn	5	1	12	86.1	22
Footscray	4	0	14	82.6	16
South Melbourne	3	0	15	70.8	12

Playing List

Number	Name	Games	Goals
1	Gordon Jones	12	0
2	Roy Dowsing	2	1
3	Bill Baxter	3	0
4	Norm Smith	20	54
5	Keith Truscott	17	10
5	Lou Reiffel	1	2
6	Ian Giles	6	0
7	Hugh Murnane	7	6
8	Rowley Fischer	14	4
9	Richie Emselle	17	0
10	Maurie Gibb	6	5
11	Harold Ball	20	30
12	Jack Mueller	16	25
13	Les Jones	20	23
14	Jack Maher	9	2
15	Ron Baggott	18	34
16	Gerry Daly	2	0
17	Allan La Fontaine	18	5
18	Wally Lock	14	0
19	Frank Roberts	13	0
20	Frank Williams	1	0
21	Ron Kimberley	11	3
22	Harry Harley	14	3
23	Ray Wartman	18	7
24	Percy Beames	13	37
26	Jack Furniss	12	1
27	Les Gibbs	1	0
29	Jack O'Keefe	13	7
30	Alby Rodda	9	14
31	Ron Barassi	13	28
32	Dick Hingston	19	0
33	Ted Buckley	9	0
35	Derek Symonds	1	0
36	Sid Anderson	11	8

Best and Fairest

	Player
1st	Jack Mueller

Other Awards
Most consistent - Richie Emselle
Most determined - Frank Roberts
Most accomplished - Allan La Fontaine
Special trophy (clubman) - Gordon Jones
Most improved - Keith Truscott
Most unselfish - Norm Smith
Special trophy - Beames, Fischer, Furniss, Hingston, Jones, Dowsing, Wartman

Tribunal

Round	Player	Charge	Sanction
Round 4	Rowley Fischer	Attempted Striking	2 matches
Round 11	Ron Barassi	Striking	4 matches
Round 13	Jack Mueller	Elbowing	4 matches
Round 14	Keith Truscott	Elbowing	Not Guilty
GF	Wally Lock	Jostling, pushing and tripping	4 matches

Seconds

1939 Seconds season
Leading goalkicker - Fred Fanning - 111
Best first year player - Sid Anderson

	W	D	L	%	P
Richmond	14	0	4	140	56
Melbourne	13	0	5	144	52
Geelong	13	0	5	136	52
Footscray	13	0	5	134	52
Essendon	12	0	7	125	48
Collingwood	11	1	6	117	44
Fitzroy	8	1	9	97	32
Carlton	8	0	10	90	32
St Kilda	5	0	12	83	20
North Melbourne	4	0	14	54	16
Hawthorn	3	0	15	67	12
South Melbourne	2	0	15	67	8

Finals

Round	Opposition	Result	Score
SF	Richmond	WIN	103-96
GF	Richmond	WIN	144-115

Notes
Official sources show Les Gibbs wearing number 28 in 1939, but Football Record shows number 27.

Match also played in Ballarat in early August.

Links
Football Record R1 1939
Football Record 1939 Finals
Herald - 07/02/1940
Age - 08/02/1940