The Melbourne Football Club was a powerhouse during the 1950’s and won a famous ‘three-peat’ of Premierships between 1955-1957.

The 1956 Demons team, led by the incredibly powerful ruck combination of Denis Cordner, Stuart Spencer and Legend of Australian Sport, Ron Barassi AM, finished the season on top of the VFL ladder, after losing just two games throughout the home and away season and played rivals Collingwood in the Grand Final in front of 115,902 fans at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground.

It was to be a second consecutive Melbourne-Collingwood Grand Final and the Magpies were desperate to avenge their loss from the previous year. They started strongly to lead at quarter time, however the irresistible Demons clawed back and quickly stamped their authority on the game – they led by 20 points at the halfway mark, then 40 points at three quarter time, before eventually running out winners by a comfortable 73 points – 17.19.121 to 6.12.48.

The 1956 season was especially notable for Melbourne as not only did the club win the VFL Premiership – and eighth overall – it won the Reserves and Third XVIII Flags as well.

Competition
AFL Premiership

Coach
Norm Smith

Captain
Noel McMahen

Premiership Team
B: John Beckwith, Trevor Johnson, Peter Marquis
HB: Keith Carroll, Noel McMahon, Don Williams
C: Frank ‘Bluey’ Adams, Brian Dixon, Ken Melville
HF: Clyde Laidlaw, Laurie Mithen, Jim Sandral
F: Robert ‘Bob’ Johnson, Athol Webb, Ian Ridley
R: Denis Cordner, Ron Barassi, Stuart Spencer
Reserves: Terry Gleeson, Ralph Lane