The 1946 Victorian Football League season was the 50th season of the elite Australian rules football competition.
In 1946, the VFL competition consisted of twelve teams of 18 on-the-field players each, plus two substitute players, known as the 19th man and the 20th 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 19 rounds; matches 12 to 19 were the "home-and-away reverse" of matches 1 to 8.
The determination of the 1946 season's fixtures were complicated by the fact that both the Melbourne Cricket Ground and the Lake Oval were still unavailable and, because of this, Melbourne shared the Punt Road Oval with Richmond as their home ground, and South Melbourne shared the Junction Oval with St Kilda as their home ground. Melbourne resumed using the Melbourne Cricket Ground as its home ground in round 17.
Once the 19 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1946 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the Page-McIntyre System.
Grand final
Essendon defeated Melbourne 22.18 (150) to 13.9 (87), in front of a crowd of 72,743 people. (For an explanation of scoring see Australian rules football).
The 1946 VFL Premiership team was Essendon.
The VFL's leading goalkicker was Bill Brittingham of Essendon with 66 goals, including 8 goals in the finals series. Des Fothergill of Collingwood was the leading goal-kicker in the home-and-home season, with 63 goals.
The winner of the 1946 Brownlow Medal was Don Cordner of Melbourne with 20 votes. Cordner was the first of the only two amateur players ever to win the Brownlow Medal; the second was Footscray's John Schultz in 1960.
Hawthorn took the "wooden spoon" in 1946.
The seconds premiership was won by Richmond. Richmond 7.15 (57) defeated Fitzroy 7.14 (56) in the Grand Final, played as a curtain-raiser to the senior preliminary final on Saturday 28 September at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
The ANFC introduced a second substitute player, known as the 20th man; this meant that a team was now composed of 18 "run on" players, and two "reserves" on the bench. A player could be substituted for any reason (not just if he was injured and unable to continue). Once substituted, a player could not return to the field of play under any circumstances. As with the 19th man, the 20th man was paid a match fee only in the event that he took the field.
The ANFC rejected a joint proposal from New South Wales and Tasmania to introduce an "order off" rule for foul play.
The VFL introduced a new Under-19 competition; the teams are referred to as the Third Eighteens.
The VFL resumes the Brownlow Medal award.
In Round 1, 33-year-old former champion full-forward Bob Pratt returned to South Melbourne after playing for VFA club Coburg (1940-1941) and serving in the Royal Australian Air Force (1942-1945). He kicked two goals before badly injuring a leg, and never played again.
In Round 2, North Melbourne won its first ever VFL away match against Richmond, having lost the previous 15 meetings.
From ninth position on the ladder at the end of Round 8, Melbourne won 13 of its next 14 matches and play in the Grand Final.
At half time in the closely contested Grand Final, a straighter-kicking Melbourne 10.4 (64) was three points in front of Essendon 9.7 (61); in the third quarter Essendon kicked 11.8 (74) to Melbourne's 1.1 (7).
