The 1943 VFL season was the 47th season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. As in 1942, only eleven of the league's twelve clubs competed, with remaining in recess due to travel restrictions during World War II. The season ran from 8 May until 25 September, and comprised a 15-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top four clubs. The premiership was won by the Richmond Football Club for the fifth time, after it defeated by five points in the 1943 VFL Grand Final.

Background

In 1942, the VFL competition consisted of eleven teams of 18 on-the-field players each (Geelong did not field a team due to wartime rail and road transport restrictions), plus one substitute player, known as the 19th man. A player could be substituted for any reason; however, once substituted, a player could not return to the field of play under any circumstances. Teams played each other in a home-and-away season of 16 rounds. During the first eleven rounds, each team played each other once, and had one bye which was worth four premiership points; after round 11, the team in last position on the ladder was eliminated from the competition, and the remaining ten teams played five matches each in rounds 12 to 16, with fixtures determined by the league using a pre-arranged and unequal formula under which the higher placed teams would face a more difficult draw. At the end of the home-and-away season, the top four teams based on the full sixteen rounds progressed to a finals series using the Page–McIntyre system to determine the season's premiers. During the 1943 season, the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Lake Oval and Junction Oval were all appropriated for military use. shared the Punt Road Oval with as their home ground, shared Princes Park with as their home ground and St Kilda played their home games at Toorak Park (this was possible because there was no VFA competition in 1943);, however, was able to return to Western Oval, as it was vacated by the defence authorities after a year.

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

Midseason ladder

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

Round 15

Round 16

Ladder

Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points for Average score: 85.0 Source: AFL Tables

Finals series

Semi-finals

Preliminary final

Grand final

Season notes

Awards

Sources