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 | Awards | Seconds | |
Having won three premierships in a row the Demons voted against continuing the competition until the war was won. They had lost most of their old players and only had three of the 1941 seconds players available. The club stated it would be unable to field a team unless other sides cleared players from their districts.
The motion was rejected by other VFL clubs and the Demons continued, not without some suggestion that they might go it alone by pulling out due to a lack of available players. Geelong pulled out of the competition due to wartime travel restrictions and the league went on with 11 teams. There was even talk of a wartime amalgamation with Collingwood, before each side discovered they were better off for players than they had originally thought.
Not surprisingly in the circumstances crowds across the league tumbled. Despite being defending premiers, Melbourne had been hit harder by the war than any other club. Not only had they lost players to military service by both master secretary Percy Page and coach Checker Hughes had moved on.
Thrust into the coaching job Percy Beames presided over a side which had 18 of the 36 who played the year before unavailable, and many of those who were couldn't play every week.
The Demons had even been thrown off the MCG by the US Army. They moved across Yarra Park to Punt Road for matches, and to Albert Park for training and considering the circumstances, especially after losing their first three matches, it was a major achievement for the Demons to finish 8th.
Clubs received four points for the bye, and due to the unbalanced nature of the competition Footscray, Carlton, St Kilda, North Melbourne and Collingwood all had two byes whereas the other clubs only had one each.
Melbourne's VFL delegates were Joe Blair and Bruce Hogg.
Premiership Season
Round | Opposition | Result
| |||
| 1 | Essendon | LOSS | |||
| 2 | Richmond | LOSS | |||
| 3 | Fitzroy | LOSS | |||
| 4 | Hawthorn | WIN | |||
| 5 | South Melbourne | LOSS | |||
| 6 | St. Kilda | LOSS | |||
| 7 | North Melbourne | WIN | |||
| 8 | Collingwood | LOSS | |||
| 9 | BYE | ||||
| 10 | Carlton | LOSS | |||
| 11 | Footscray | LOSS | |||
| 12 | Essendon | WIN | |||
| 13 | Richmond | LOSS | |||
| 14 | Fitzroy | WIN | |||
| 15 | Hawthorn | WIN | |||
| 16 | South Melbourne | LOSS | |||
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
Age - 31/03/1942
Argus - 20/04/1942
Argus - 24/04/1942
Links
Membership image courtesy of grandoldflag.net