| 2009 season | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Melbourne vs St Kilda 2009 | |||
| President | Jim Stynes (2nd season) | ||
| Coach | Dean Bailey (2nd season) | ||
| Captain(s) | James McDonald (2nd season) | ||
| Home ground | MCG (100,018 capacity) | ||
| Pre-season | First round | ||
| AFL season | 16th | ||
| Finals series | DNQ | ||
| Best and fairest | Aaron Davey | ||
| Leading goalkicker | Russell Robertson (29 goals) | ||
| Highest home attendance | 61,287 (round 11 vs. Collingwood) | ||
| Lowest home attendance | 7,311 (round 17 vs. Sydney) | ||
| Average home attendance | 27,570 | ||
| Club membership | 31,506 (  1,887 / 6.37%) | ||
| |||
The 2009 Melbourne Football Club season was the club's 110th year in the VFL/AFL since it began in 1897.
Melbourne hosted 10 of its 11 home games at the MCG. For the third year in a row, they played their remaining home game at Manuka Oval in the nation's capital, Canberra, against the Sydney Swans during Round 17. Dean Bailey coached his second year as senior coach at Melbourne. After taking the captaincy from David Neitz in round 6 the year before with Cameron Bruce, James McDonald was made full-time captain for the season.[1]
On 2 August, Melbourne president Jim Stynes announced he was diagnosed with cancer and would be stepping aside from his duties until the conclusion of the 2009 AFL season.[2] Don McLardy took over as acting president for that period of time.
Melbourne continued their Debt Demolition campaign in the month of August raising $567,132 and cutting their debt to $1.5 million.[3] Melbourne also had a yearly profit of $587,183.[4]
Melbourne only won four matches for the year, receiving their 12th wooden spoon. Melbourne came under scrutiny in the later rounds of the season (most notably in round 18 against Richmond) for "tanking", i.e. losing games in order to receive a priority draft pick;[5] but, after extensive investigations in 2012 and 2013, the AFL found the club not guilty of these allegations.[6] Because the Demons won four games or fewer for the second year in a row, the club received a priority pick at the start of the 2009 National Draft.
- ^ "Melbourne confirms midfielder Jame McDonald as captain". 15 January 2009.
- ^ "Support floods in for Stynes". The Daily Telegraph. Australia. 2 July 2009.
- ^ Melbourne Demons Record Profit Herald Sun [dead link]
- ^ "Demons achieve profit in 2009 - Official AFL Website of the Melbourne Football Club". Archived from the original on 8 July 2013. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
- ^ "Motorsport Video |Motorsport Highlights, Replays, News, Clips".
- ^ Cooper, Adam (20 February 2013). "Integrity intact: Demons". The Age. Melbourne. Retrieved 20 February 2013.