The 1918 VFL season was the 22nd season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest-level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. Played during the final year of World War I, eight of the league's nine clubs featured in 1918, with and returning after being in recess the previous two seasons and only absent. The season ran from 11 May to 7 September, comprising a 14-match home-and-away season followed by a three-week finals series featuring the top four clubs. won the premiership, defeating by five points in the 1918 VFL grand final; it was South Melbourne's second VFL premiership. South Melbourne also won the minor premiership by finishing atop the home-and-away ladder with a 13–1 win–loss record. 's Ern Cowley won the leading goalkicker medal as the league's leading goalkicker.

Background

In 1918, the VFL competition consisted of eight teams of 18 on-the-field players each, with no "reserves", although any of the 18 players who had left the playing field for any reason could later resume their place on the field at any time during the match. Each team played each other twice in a home-and-away season of 14 rounds. Once the 14 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1918 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the amended "Argus system".

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

Ladder

Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points for Average score: 56.4 Source: AFL Tables

Finals series

All of the 1918 finals were played at the MCG so the home team in the semi-finals and preliminary final is purely the higher ranked team from the ladder but in the Grand Final the home team was the team that won the preliminary final. The second semi-final was scheduled to be played on the 24th of August, but heavy rain caused a postponement to the 31st of August the first postponement of a finals match in VFL history.

Semi-finals

Grand final

South Melbourne defeated Collingwood 9.8 (62) to 7.15 (57), in front of a crowd of 39,168 people. (For an explanation of scoring see Australian rules football).

Season notes

Awards

Sources