2004 AFL Grand Final

The 2004 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Port Adelaide Football Club and the Brisbane Lions, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 25 September 2004. It was the 108th annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League/Australian Football League,^[1] staged to determine the premiers for 2004 AFL season. The match was attended by 77,671 spectators. Port Adelaide won by a margin of 40 points, marking that club's first premiership victory. ^[2]

Background

This was the first ever AFL Grand Final in which both competing teams were based outside the state of Victoria. Port Adelaide were appearing in their first ever Grand Final and the Brisbane Lions were attempting to win their fourth consecutive premiership.

At the conclusion of the home and away season, Port Adelaide had finished first on the AFL ladder with 17 wins and 5 losses, winning the McClelland Trophy for the third successive year. Brisbane had finished second with 16 wins and 6 losses. During the 2004 season, Port Adelaide's captain was ruckman Matthew Primus, however he was injured for most of the season which allowed forward Warren Tredrea to spend most of the time as captain.

Port Adelaide defeated Geelong by 55 points in the Qualifying Final at AAMI Stadium, which gave them a week off and a place in the Preliminary Final. Port Adelaide just defeated St Kilda by 6 points in the Preliminary Final.

Reigning premiers Brisbane defeated St Kilda by a massive 80 points the qualifying final at the Gabba. They then defeated Geelong by 9 points in the Preliminary Final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Match summary

After a rugged, but absorbing first half, the Power proved too strong in the second stanza, winning comfortably in the end. Byron Pickett, a premiership winning defender with North Melbourne in 1999, turned into a match-winning on-baller for the Power, and capped his day with being awarded the Norm Smith Medal for being judged the best player afield. His match statistics were: 19 kicks, 1 handball, 8 marks, 2 tackles, 3 goals and 2 behinds.

The fairytale of the afternoon was the story behind Josh Mahoney, the until then little-known Port forward pocket had been cast aside by Collingwood and the Western Bulldogs in the seven years prior, trying his luck with Essendon's VFL squad in 2001 before switching to Williamstown. He belatedly received a third chance at the highest level, and was instrumental in the Power's third quarter charge.

Following the match, Port Adelaide coach Mark Williams was quite animated, his celebrations including a speech on the dais in which he uttered the now-famous words "Allan Scott - you were wrong!". This was in reference to a comment made by Scott (a sponsor of the Port Adelaide Football Club), earlier in the 2004 season, that the club could not win a premiership under the coaching of Williams. Williams also made a mock choking gesture by holding his tie above his head like a noose as he stepped onto the arena, a reference to the breaking of Port Adelaide's reputation as "chokers". This reputation had been acquired after having lost in several previous finals series, despite dominating the home and away seasons in those years.

Port's victory denied Brisbane its fourth consecutive flag, leaving them one consecutive premiership short of Collingwood's record of four consecutive flags from 1927 to 1930.

Teams

Scorecard

See also

• AFL Grand Final
• 2004 AFL season

References