| style="text-align:center;"|3 |- |align="left"| | style="background:#cfc;"|StK+93| style="background:#cfc;"|Coll+27 | style="background:#cfc;"|Carl+26 | style="background:#cfc;"|Geel+5| style="background:#cfc;"|Fit+11|style="background:#FFCFCF;"|Ess-14 | style="background:#cfc;"|SM+7| style="background:#cfc;"|StK+17 |style="background:#FFCFCF;"|Coll-8| style="background:#cfc;"|Carl+32|style="background:#FFCFCF;"|Geel-14 |style="background:#FFCFCF;"|Fit-8 |style="background:#FFCFCF;"|Ess-13|style="background:#FFCFCF;"|SM-7 |style="background:#FFCFCF;"|Coll-20|style="background:#FFCFCF;"|Fit-38 |style="background:#FFCFCF;"|Carl-25 | X | style="text-align:center;"|6 |- |align="left"| | style="background:#cfc;"|Carl+55|style="background:#FFCFCF;"|Fit-4|style="background:#FFCFCF;"|Ess-6 |style="background:#FFCFCF;"|Coll-7| style="background:#cfc;"|StK+37 | style="background:#cfc;"|Geel+16|style="background:#FFCFCF;"|Melb-7 |style="background:#FFCFCF;"|Carl-19 |style="background:#FFCFCF;"|Fit-33 |style="background:#FFCFCF;"|Ess-16|style="background:#FFCFCF;"|Coll-3 | style="background:#cfc;"|StK+33|style="background:#FFCFCF;"|Gee-27 | style="background:#cfc;"|Melb+7| style="background:#cfc;"|Geel+3 | style="background:#cfc;"|StK+70 | style="background:#cfc;"|Ess+15|style="background:#FFCFCF;"|Fit-1 | style="text-align:center;"|2|- |align="left"| |style="background:#FFCFCF;"|Melb-93 |style="background:#FFCFCF;"|Ess-46|style="background:#FFCFCF;"|Coll-69 |style="background:#FFCFCF;"|Fit-23 |style="background:#FFCFCF;"|SM-37|style="background:#FFCFCF;"|Carl-2|style="background:#FFCFCF;"|Geel-47|style="background:#FFCFCF;"|Melb-17|style="background:#FFCFCF;"|Ess-79 |style="background:#FFCFCF;"|Coll-83|style="background:#FFCFCF;"|Fit-54|style="background:#FFCFCF;"|SM-33 |style="background:#FFCFCF;"|Carl-39 |style="background:#FFCFCF;"|Geel-117 |style="background:#FFCFCF;"|Ess-98 |style="background:#FFCFCF;"|SM-70'|style="background:#FFCFCF;"|Geel-161 | X | style="text-align:center;"|8 |- valign="top" !valign="middle"| Team ! 1 ! 2 ! 3 ! 4 ! 5 ! 6 ! 7 ! 8 ! 9 ! 10 ! 11 ! 12 ! 13 ! 14 ! SR1 ! SR2 ! SR3 ! GF !valign="middle"| Ladder |} Bold – Home game X – Bye Opponent for round listed above margin Ladder Ladder progression No ladder for finals in 1899. Finals Sectional Round 1 Sectional Round 2 Sectional Round 3 Section A Ladder Section B Ladder Grand final Awards The 1899 VFL Premiership team was Fitzroy. The VFL's leading goalkicker was Eddy James of Geelong with 31 goals. The Argus newspaper's "Player of the Year" was Fitzroy's Pat Hickey. Notable events The VFL reduced the size of its teams from 20 to 18 on-the-field players, with no "reserves". In doing this, the number of followers was reduced from five (four rucks and a rover) to three (two rucks and a rover). The third round, Queen's Birthday holiday match, between Collingwood and St Kilda at Victoria Park was held in the morning of Wednesday 24 May 1899. Norman "Hackenschmidt" Clark, a footballer with the North Adelaide Football Club in the South Australian Football Association, won the 1899, 130-yard Stawell Gift in eleven and four-fifths seconds, off a handicap of 14 and a half yards. Clark would later play 125 senior games for Carlton (1905–1912), captain-coach VFA team Brighton (1913), and coach Carlton (1914–1918; 1920–1922), Richmond (1919), North Melbourne (1924 and 1931) and St Kilda (1925–1926). At half-time of the Round 13 game between Fitzroy and Collingwood, Fitzroy captain Alec Sloan offers Collingwood captain Dick Condon the use of a fresh football, due to the old ball being greasy. Condon declines, and Colingwood win the game 5.7 (37) to 3.7 (25). The first seven kicks of the Round 14 game between Carlton and Fitzroy are free kicks awarded by the umpire. In the third sectional round, Geelong set records for the highest score in a game, scoring 23.24 (162), and the highest winning margin of 161