The 2010 Melbourne Football Club season was the club's 111th year in the VFL/AFL since it began in 1897.
Melbourne played 14 games at the MCG, 10 of which were home games. They also played a home match at TIO Stadium in Darwin against Port Adelaide in Round 9. It was Dean Bailey's third year as senior coach. James McDonald continued as the club's captain until retiring at the end of the year.
After a terrible start to the season getting thrashed to by 56 points, Melbourne began to lift their work-rate in games and indicate that they were beginning to successfully maneuver Dean Bailey's coaching-style. They began to play a fast and exciting brand of football with heavy use of the corridor and playing-on in subsequent weeks. Furthermore, unlike the 3 previous seasons, Melbourne began to cut heavy defects back to smaller deficits by preventing their opponents from scoring. This was due to Melbourne constantly gained running momentum when moving the ball outside of their defensive 50.
Melbourne's season was headlined by being constantly competitive on a weekly basis only losing one more time for the season by over 50 points to in Round 10. Melbourne was shown strong signs of competitiveness against the sides that eventually finished in the top 8 that year. This included a 4-point loss to the in Round 7, an 11-point loss to at Subiaco in Round 16, a 1-point loss & a draw to the eventual premiers that year in Rounds 2 & 12 respectively and a 73-point win to in Round 17.
In addition to Melbourne's promising season allowing them to achieve 8 wins and a draw with a percentage of 94.52%, it also allowed James Frawley and Mark Jamar to earn position in the 2010 All-Australian team in the back line and the interchange bench respectively.
In August, Melbourne announced it was officially debt free. The same night Melbourne also unveiled its new logo.
2010 list changes
2009 trades Trade gainedTraded fromTrade lostRef Pick 11 Brock McLean
Retirements and delistings
Player New club League ReasonRef Matthew Whelan Pines Football Club MPNFL Retired Paul Wheatley Palmerston Football Club NTFL Retired Russell Robertson Shepparton Swans Goulburn Valley Football League Retired Simon Buckley AFL Delisted Shane Valenti Port Melbourne VFL Delisted Trent Zomer Unknown Unknown Delisted
National draft
Round Overall pick Player State Position Team from League from 1 1 Tom Scully Midfield Dandenong Stingrays TAC Cup 1 2 Jack Trengove Midfield Sturt SANFL 1 11 Jordan Gysberts Midfield Eastern Ranges TAC Cup 2 18 Luke Tapscott Forward/Midfield North Adelaide SANFL 3 34 Max Gawn Ruck Sandringham Dragons TAC Cup 4 50 Jack Fitzpatrick Key Position Western Jets TAC Cup
Pre-season draft
Round Overall pick Player State Position Team from League from 1 1 Joel Macdonald Defender Brisbane Lions AFL
Rookie draft Round Overall pick Player State Position Team from League from 1 6 Michael Newton Forward AFL 2 22 John Meesen Ruck AFL
2010 squad
2010 season
Pre-season
NAB Cup
Week 1
NAB Challenge
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Home and away season
Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Round 5
Round 6
Round 7
Round 8
Round 9
Round 10
Round 11
Round 12
Round 13
Round 14
Round 15
Round 16
Round 17
Round 18
Round 19
Round 20
Round 21
Round 22
Ladder
Ladder breakdown by opposition Opponent Played Won Lost Drew Premiership points Points for Points against Percentage (%) 1 1 0 0 4 142 69 205.80 2 2 0 0 8 242 158 153.16 2 2 0 0 8 177 117 151.28 1 1 0 0 4 122 103 118.45 2 0 1 1 2 161 162 99.38 1 0 1 0 0 66 70 94.29 2 1 1 0 4 194 222 87.39 1 0 1 0 0 71 82 86.59 2 0 2 0 0 181 217 83.41 2 1 1 0 4 130 158 82.28 1 0 1 0 0 65 100 65.00 2 0 2 0 0 139 216 64.35 1 0 1 0 0 46 75 61.33 1 0 1 0 0 58 166 59.41 1 0 1 0 0 67 121 55.37 Total 22 8 13 1 34 1863 1971 94.52
Awards and milestones Home & Away Season Player Milestone Reached Tom Scully AFL Debut 27 March 2010 Jack Trengove AFL Debut 27 March 2010 James Strauss AFL Debut 27 March 2010 Brad Green 200th AFL Game 3 April 2010 Danny Hughes AFL Debut 7 May 2010 Jordan Gysberts AFL Debut 29 May 2010 Brent Moloney 100th AFL Game 29 May 2010 James Frawley 50th AFL Game 29 May 2010 Matthew Warnock 50th AFL Game 27 June 2010 Jared Rivers 100th AFL Game 4 July 2010 Colin Sylvia 100th AFL Game 8 August 2010 James McDonald 250th AFL Game 22 August 2010 Cale Morton 50th AFL Game 29 August 2010
China Tour Melbourne competed in the Kaspersky Cup Exhibition Match against the Brisbane Lions on 17 October in Shanghai, China winning by 5 points. Liam Jurrah kicked 5 goals in front of an estimated 5,000 crowd.
Awards
Melbourne's annual Best and Fairest night was held on 2 September, at Crown Casino. Brad Green capped off an excellent year, winning his first Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Trophy, finishing 18 votes ahead of defender James Frawley, and also winning the Ron Barassi Leadership Award and the Leading Goalkicker Award.
Best and Fairest Top Ten Position Player Votes 1st Brad Green (295) 2nd James Frawley (277) 3rd Mark Jamar (231) 4th Aaron Davey (194) 5th Colin Sylvia (170) 6th Cameron Bruce (168) 7th Brent Moloney (166) 8th Tom Scully (154) 9th Colin Garland (149) 10th James McDonald (149)
Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Trophy – Brad Green
Sid Anderson Memorial Trophy (Second in the Best and Fairest) – James Frawley
Ron Barassi Snr Memorial Trophy (Third in the Best and Fairest) – Mark Jamar
Ivor Warne-Smith Memorial Trophy (Fourth in the Best and Fairest) – Aaron Davey
Dick Taylor Memorial Trophy (Fifth in the Best and Fairest) – Colin Sylvia
Harold Ball Memorial Trophy (Best First Year Player) – Tom Scully
Troy Broadbridge Trophy (highest polling MFC player in the Casey Best and Fairest) – Brad Miller
Ron Barassi Leadership Award – Brad Green
Ian Ridley Club Ambassador Award – Colin Sylvia
Norm Smith Memorial Trophy (Coach's Award) – Jordie McKenzie
Leading Goalkicker Award – Brad Green (55)
Brownlow Medal
Results Round 1 vote 2 votes 3 votes 1 Sam Mitchell () Jordan Lewis () Luke Hodge () 2 Ricky Petterd () Alan Didak () Aaron Davey () 3 James McDonald () Bernie Vince () Jack Grimes () 4 Brent Moloney () James McDonald () Brad Green () 5 Nathan Jones () James Frawley () Brent Moloney () 6 Michael Firrito () Cameron Bruce ( Daniel Wells () 7 Shaun Higgins () Daniel Giansiracusa () Tom Scully () 8 Mark LeCras () James McDonald () Matt Priddis () 9 Colin Sylvia () Aaron Davey () Travis Boak () 10 Joel Selwood () James Podsiadly () Gary Ablett () 11 Heath Scotland () Chris Judd () Brent Moloney () 12 Mark Jamar () Dane Swan () Aaron Davey () 13 Kurt Tippett () Simon Goodwin () Graham Johncock () 14 Brendon Goddard () Leigh Montagna () Clinton Jones () 15 Colin Sylvia () Mark Jamar () Brad Green () 16 Anthony Morabito () Colin Sylvia () Hayden Ballantyne () 17 James Frawley () Aaron Davey () Colin Sylvia () 18 Joel Macdonald () Mark Jamar () Colin Sylvia () 19 Daniel Jackson () Liam Jurrah () Lynden Dunn () 20 Lance Franklin () Shaun Burgoyne () Brad Sewell () 21 Domenic Cassisi () Cameron Bruce () Travis Boak () 22 Brady Rawlings () Brent Harvey () Levi Greenwood ()
Brownlow Medal tally Player 1 vote games 2 vote games 3 vote games Total votes Aaron Davey 2 1 2 (10) Colin Sylvia 0 2 2 (10) Brent Moloney 1 0 2 (7) Brad Green 0 0 2 (6) James McDonald 1 2 0 (5) Mark Jamar 1 2 0 (5) Cameron Bruce 0 2 0 (4) Jack Grimes 0 0 1 (3) James Frawley 1 1 0 (3) Tom Scully 0 0 1 (3) Lynden Dunn 0 0 1 (3) Liam Jurrah 0 1 0 (2) Ricky Petterd 1 0 0 (1) Nathan Jones 1 0 0 (1) Joel Macdonald 1 0 0 (1) Total 9 11 11 (64)
References
External links Official Website of the Melbourne Football Club Official Website of the AFL