| 1938 VFL premiership season | |
|---|---|
| Teams | 12 |
| Premiers | Carlton 6th premiership |
| Minor premiers | Carlton 9th minor premiership |
| Brownlow Medallist | Dick Reynolds (Essendon) |
| Ron Todd (Collingwood) | |
| Matches played | 112 |
| Highest | 96,486 |
The 1938 VFL season was the 42nd season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs, ran from 23 April until 24 September, and comprised an 18-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top four clubs.
The premiership was won by the Carlton Football Club for the sixth time, after it defeated Collingwood by 15 points in the 1938 VFL Grand Final.
In 1938, the VFL competition consisted of twelve teams of 18 on-the-field players each, 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 18 rounds; matches 12 to 18 were the "home-and-way reverse" of matches 1 to 7.
Once the 18 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1938 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the Page–McIntyre system.
| (P) | Premiers |
| Qualified for finals |
| # | Team | P | W | L | D | PF | PA | % | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carlton (P) | 18 | 14 | 4 | 0 | 1827 | 1574 | 116.1 | 56 |
| 2 | Geelong | 18 | 13 | 5 | 0 | 1897 | 1468 | 129.2 | 52 |
| 3 | Footscray | 18 | 13 | 5 | 0 | 1723 | 1386 | 124.3 | 52 |
| 4 | Collingwood | 18 | 12 | 6 | 0 | 1942 | 1652 | 117.6 | 48 |
| 5 | Melbourne | 18 | 11 | 7 | 0 | 1776 | 1676 | 106.0 | 44 |
| 6 | Richmond | 18 | 10 | 8 | 0 | 1747 | 1563 | 111.8 | 40 |
| 7 | Essendon | 18 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 1801 | 1760 | 102.3 | 36 |
| 8 | St Kilda | 18 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 1474 | 1606 | 91.8 | 36 |
| 9 | North Melbourne | 18 | 6 | 12 | 0 | 1384 | 1852 | 74.7 | 24 |
| 10 | Fitzroy | 18 | 5 | 13 | 0 | 1543 | 1742 | 88.6 | 20 |
| 11 | Hawthorn | 18 | 4 | 14 | 0 | 1414 | 1717 | 82.4 | 16 |
| 12 | South Melbourne | 18 | 2 | 16 | 0 | 1353 | 1885 | 71.8 | 8 |
Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points for
Average score: 92.0
Source: AFL Tables