CHECK out some of the significant grand final facts relating to the Melbourne Football Club

1 - Melbourne has won 12 premierships (1900, 1926, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1948, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1959, 1960 and 1964)

2 - The red and blue has played in 18 grand finals, including one tie in 1948

3 - Melbourne has a 71 per cent winning record in grand finals

4 - A total of 128 players have played in Melbourne premierships

5 - Frank Adams has played 22 finals - the most for the club

6 - Ron Barassi is next best with 21 finals

7 - Jim Stynes is third with 19 finals

8 - Jack Mueller has kicked 62 goals in finals - the most for Melbourne

9 - Norm Smith is next best with 36 goals in finals

10 - Ron Barassi is third with 30 goals

11 - Norm Smith has coached Melbourne in 23 finals

12 - Smith has coached Melbourne to six premierships (1955, 1956, 1957, 1959, 1960 and 1964) - the second most in VFL/AFL history behind Jock McHale (eight)

13 - Frank ‘Checker’ Hughes has coached Melbourne to four premierships

14 - Dick Wardill, captain of the day acted as Melbourne coach to its first premiership in 1900

15 - Bert Chadwick was captain-coach in Melbourne’s second premiership in 1926

16 - Melbourne won 10 premierships in 25 years from 1939-64

17 - Allan La Fontaine captained Melbourne in three premierships (1939-40-41)

18 - Noel McMahen (1955-56), John Beckwith (1957 and 1959) and Ron Barassi (1960 and 1964) captained Melbourne in two premierships each

19 - Don Cordner was captain in the 1948 premiership

20 - Stuart Spencer won back-to-back best and fairest awards with Melbourne in 1955-56.

21 - Norm Smith led Melbourne’s goalkicking in three premiership years (1939-40-41)

22 - Ron Barassi is the only Melbourne player to have been a captain (1960 and 1964), won a best and fairest (1964) and led the goalkicking (1959) in a red and blue premiership year

23 - Melbourne’s highest score in a grand final: 21.22 (148) against Collingwood 14.11 (95), 1939

24 - Melbourne’s lowest score in a grand final: 4.10 (34) against Fitzroy 3.12 (30), 1900

25 - The biggest grand final crowd Melbourne has played in front of is 115,803 against Collingwood in 1956

26 - Melbourne played in seven consecutive grand finals from 1954-60

27 - Norm Smith coached in all seven grand finals from 1954-60

28 - He also coached Melbourne in 11 consecutive finals series - a VFL/AFL record

29 - Melbourne won its first five grand finals

30 - Its first grand final loss came against Essendon in 1946

31 - Melbourne has made just two grand finals (1988 and 2000) since its last premiership in 1964

32 - John Northey coached Melbourne in 1988 and Neale Daniher in 2000

33 - Norm Smith waited 25 years between premierships - as a player (1939) through to his last as coach (1964)

34 - Norm Smith holds the record for the most premierships as a player and/or coach with just one club (10) - four as a player/playing coach (1939-41 and 1948) and six as a non-playing coach (1955-57, 1959-60 and 1964)

35 - Ron Barassi is equal with Norm Smith for the most premierships as a player and/or coach - six as player/playing coach with Melbourne (1955-57, 1959-60 and 1964) and two as non-playing coach with Carlton (1968 and 1970) and North Melbourne (1975 and 1977)

36 - Ron Barassi and Frank Adams have played in eight grand finals each - both 1954-60 and 1964

37 - John Beckwith, Bob B.Johnson, Laurie Mithen, Don Williams and Brian Dixon have played in seven grand finals each

38 - Frank Adams has played in six premierships - equal second best behind Hawthorn’s Michael Tuck (seven)

39 - Harold Hay played seven VFL/AFL matches for one premiership in 1900

40 - Stan ‘Pops’ Heal and Warren Lewis both played eight matches, including the 1941 premiership

41 - Dave Duff played 11 matches, including the 1926 premiership

42 - Brian Leahy was just 17 years and 233 days when he played in the 1960 flag - the second youngest premiership player in VFL/AFL history

43 - Bryan Kenneally (1960), Fred Fanning (1940) and Hassa Mann (1959) were 18 years old

44 - Brothers Don and Ted Cordner played in the 1941 premiership. Brothers Don and Denis played in the 1948 premiership

45 - Melbourne has had four sets or father/sons to play in premierships at the same club - Jack Collins (1926) and Geoff Collins (1948); Bob Johnson (1926) and Bob Johnson (1955-57 and 1959-60); Ron Barassi (1940) and Ron Barassi (1955-57, 1959-60 and 1964) and Ritchie Emselle (1939-41) and Ken Emselle (1964)

46 - Melbourne has had four players miss the grand final through suspension - Wally Lock (1939), Alan McGowan (1948), Bob McKenzie (1954) and Steven O’Dwyer (1988)

47 - Frank Adams has played in 11 consecutive finals series - an equal VFL/AFL record with Hawthorn duo Chris Mew and Chris Langford

48 - Melbourne has played Collingwood and Essendon seven times each in grand finals - this is a VFL/AFL record for the most times as grand final rivals

49 - Melbourne and Collingwood have also met in 22 finals - an equal VFL/AFL record with Carlton and Collingwood matches and Carlton and Richmond games

50 - Three Melbourne players have missed the grand final after playing every match that season. Bob Corbett (1926) missed through injury, Ossie Green (1926) was omitted and Geoff Case (1958) was unavailable due to illness.

51 - Melbourne suffered a premiership hangover after winning three successive premierships in 1939-41. It slipped to eighth position with five wins in 1942

52 - Melbourne slipped to seventh in 1965 after defeating Collingwood in the 1964 grand final.

53 - Steven Armstrong was the most recent Melbourne-listed player to play in an AFL premiership (West Coast Eagles, 2006)

54 - Melbourne went 25 years without making a grand final from 1901-25

55 - The Demons have gone 46 years without winning the premiership from 1964-2010

56 - Bert Wregg was a former Melbourne player in 1901, umpired the 1906 grand final. He was also a boundary umpire in 1904.

57 - Melbourne’s draw with Essendon in the 1948 grand final was the first in VFL/AFL history

58 - Melbourne’s narrowest win in the grand final was by four points against Fitzroy (1900) and Collingwood (1964)

59 - Melbourne has won two premierships in October (1926) and (1948)

60 - Frank ‘Pop’ Vine made his VFL/AFL debut in the victorious 1926 premiership

61 - Melbourne 8.14 (62) defeated Collingwood 2.2 (14) in the 1960 grand final. Collingwood’s four scoring shots were the fewest in any VFL/AFL final

62 - Melbourne won its first grand final in 1900 from sixth position on the ladder

63 - Vic Cumberland - best known for the being the oldest player to play VFL/AFL football (43) - was regarded as Melbourne’s best player in its first premiership in 1900

64 - One of the fathers of Australian Football, Henry Harrison, was 96 years old when he watched Melbourne win its second premiership in 1926

65 - Bob Johnson kicked six goals in the 1926 premiership. It was his first VFL/AFL season

66 - Percy Beames and Alby Rodda kicked four goals each in the 1939 premiership

67 - Norm Smith kicked seven goals in the 1940 flag

68 - Keith ‘Bluey’ Truscott, Sid Anderson and Ron Barassi Snr - whose names are associated to first, second and third respectively in the club best and fairest award - played in the 1940 premiership

69 - Percy Beames kicked six goals in the 1941 premiership

70 - Jack Mueller booted six majors the 1946 losing grand final

71 - He then kicked six goals in the 1948 drawn grand final

72 - And then another half-a-dozen in the 1948 flag, giving Mueller 18 goals in three consecutive grand finals

73 - Noel Clarke and Ian Ridley kicked three goals each in the 1955 flag

74 - Stuart Spencer and Athol Webb booted five goals each in the 1956 premiership

75 - Ron Barassi kicked five goals and Ian Ridley (four) in the 1957 flag

76 - Barassi and Alan Rowarth booted four goals each in the 1959 premiership

77 - Bob Johnson, Frank Adams and Hassa Mann kick two goals each in Melbourne’s 1960 flag

78 - John Townsend kicks three goals in the 1964 premiership

79 - From its first 16 grand finals, Melbourne won 12 flags, lost three and drew one

80 - Melbourne’s average winning margin in a grand final is 39.33 points

81 - Its average losing margin is 57.6 points

82 - Melbourne’s greatest winning margin in a grand final is 73 points in 1956

83 - Its greatest loss was 96 points against Hawthorn in 1988

84 - Brian Wilson had the most disposals (22) in Melbourne’s 1988 grand final

85 - Guy Rigoni had the most disposals (23) in Melbourne’s 2000 grand final

86 - Steven Febey was the only Melbourne player to feature in the 1988 and 2000 grand finals

87 - Greg Healy was Melbourne captain in the 1988 grand final

88 - Garry Lyon and David Williams led Melbourne’s goalkicking with two goals each in the 1988 grand final

89 - David Neitz was Melbourne captain in the 2000 grand final

90 - Jeff Farmer and Stephen Powell led Melbourne’s goalkicking with three goals each in the 2000 grand final

91 - Brad Green is the only remaining Demon to play in the 2000 grand final

92 - Cameron Bruce was a late withdrawal due to injury in the 2000 grand final

93 - Back-pocket Neil Crompton kicked the winning goal in the 1964 grand final after following his man up the ground

94 - Melbourne’s only grand final not at the MCG was in 1900, when it was played at East Melbourne

95 - Melbourne has won 12 reserves premierships (1931, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1939, 1949, 1956, 1969, 1970, 1984 and 1993)

96 - It also won six premierships in the under 19s (1947, 1953, 1964, 1971, 1981 and 1983)

97 - Melbourne has won eight premierships (1939-40, 1955-56-57, 1959-60 and 1964) after finishing on top of the ladder following the home and away season

98 - It has won two premierships (1941 and 1948) after finishing second on the ladder

99 - Melbourne has also won a flag after finishing third in 1926

100 - And Melbourne has won six of its 12 premierships against Collingwood