| 2004 AFL Grand Final | ||||||||||||||||
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 Match program cover | ||||||||||||||||
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| Date | 25 September 2004 (2004-09-25), 2:40pm | |||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Melbourne Cricket Ground | |||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 77,671 | |||||||||||||||
| Favourite | Brisbane Lions | |||||||||||||||
| Umpires | #5Mathew James, #10Brett Allen, #30Shane McInerney | |||||||||||||||
| Coin toss won by | Michael Voss (Brisbane Lions) | |||||||||||||||
| Kicked toward | City End | |||||||||||||||
| Ceremonies | ||||||||||||||||
| Pre-match entertainment | Guy Sebastian,The Ten Tenors,David Hobson &Kath & Kim | |||||||||||||||
| National anthem | Guy Sebastian | |||||||||||||||
| Accolades | ||||||||||||||||
| Norm Smith Medallist | Byron Pickett (Port Adelaide) | |||||||||||||||
| Jock McHale Medallist | Mark Williams (Port Adelaide) | |||||||||||||||
| Broadcast in Australia | ||||||||||||||||
| Network | Network Ten | |||||||||||||||
| Commentators | Anthony Hudson (Commentator) Tim Lane (Commentator) Robert Walls (Expert Commentator) Christi Malthouse (Boundary Rider) Andrew Maher (Boundary Rider) Stephen Quartermain (Host) Stephen Silvagni (Analyst) Mick Malthouse (Analyst) | |||||||||||||||
The2004 AFL Grand Final was anAustralian rules football game contested between thePort Adelaide Football Club and theBrisbane Lions, held at theMelbourne Cricket Ground inMelbourne on 25 September 2004. It was the 108th annualgrand final of theAustralian Football League (formerly the Victorian Football League), staged to determine thepremiers for the2004 AFL season.
The match was won byPort Adelaide, marking that club's maiden AFL premiership victory. It was a closely fought match until midway through the third quarter, when Port Adelaide broke away and went on to win by 40 points. It was attended by 77,671 spectators. It was the first grand final in AFL/VFL history not to feature a Victorian club.
At the conclusion of thehome and away season, Port Adelaide had finished first on the AFL ladder with 17 wins and 5 losses, winning theMcClelland Trophy for the third successive year. At the start of the year, Port Adelaide's captain was ruckmanMatthew Primus, however he was injured in Round 3 and missed the rest of the season, which meant that forwardWarren Tredrea acted as captain. Port Adelaide beatGeelong by 55 points in the qualifying final atAAMI Stadium, which gave them a week off and a place in the preliminary final; Port Adelaide then defeatedSt Kilda by 6 points in a tight preliminary final to advance to the grand final.
Brisbane finished second on the ladder with a record of 16 wins and 6 losses. Brisbane thrashed St Kilda by 80 points in the qualifying final at the Gabba, and then defeated Geelong by 9 points in the preliminary final at theMelbourne Cricket Ground – although Brisbane had earned a home preliminary final under the finals system in place, grounds contracts with the Melbourne Cricket Ground required one preliminary final to be staged at the ground, and as the lower-ranked team, Brisbane's was chosen.
It was Brisbane's fourth consecutive Grand Final; and, having won the previous three, was attempting to become the first club to win four consecutive premierships sinceCollingwood in 1927–30. Port Adelaide was appearing in its first ever AFL Grand Final, having gained a reputation as finals chokers for its previous three seasons – when two minor premierships and a third place home and away finish both ended in lower positions after finals.
The match was played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the capacity of which was reduced owing to construction work on the new northern grandstand ahead of the2006 Commonwealth Games, resulting in the attendance being 77,671. This was the lowest at a grand final attendancesince 1991, when it was held atWaverley Park, and the lowest at the MCG since the 1948 Grand Final Replay.[2]
For the first time in VFL/AFL history, both competing grand finalists were clubs based outside the state ofVictoria; and, as of 2025, it remains the only grand final featuring two teams who joined the league after 1986 as part of national expansion. In an article for theHerald Sun titled "Our misery is interstate joy – Invaders on the M.C.G.”, Kevin Healey stated that“Victorian footy fans’ worst nightmare finally came true last night – two interstate teams will contest the A.F.L. Grand Final.”[3]
Jonathan Brown did not train with the Brisbane Lions players in their warm-up, but he did take to the field at the start of the game.[4]
Leading up to the opening bounce and for large portions of the first quarter there were scuffles between players. After Brisbane missed a couple of early shots at goal, Port Adelaide controlled the majority of the quarter, andJosh Carr kicked the first goal on the run after winning a contest at half-forward in the 8th minute. Two more goals soon followed, toBrendon Lade in the 12th minute andWarren Tredrea in the 16th minute to open a 19-point lead. Brisbane fought back throughJason Akermanis, who kicked goals in the 20th and 23rd minutes from long set shots to narrow the margin back to 8. At this point, a vicious brawl broke out between Brisbane full forwardAlistair Lynch and Port Adelaide defenderDarryl Wakelin; immediately after, Lynch limped off the ground under the blood rule, but also having torn his quadriceps earlier in the quarter, and he played very little part in the rest of the game. Port Adelaide continued to dominate general play throughout the quarter, and with a late goal from a boundary throw-in toByron Pickett in the 28th minute, Port Adelaide extended its quarter time advantage to a well-deserved 15 points, Port Adelaide 4.5 (29) lead Brisbane 2.2 (14).
The second quarter continued to be rugged and absorbing. General play started to favour the Lions, but the Lions fell down in the forward line, kicking 0.4 (4) from several chances in the first ten minutes of the quarter; while Port Adelaide capitalised on a reversed free kick againstJason Akermanis in Brisbane's forward line to rebound the length of the ground, finishing with a goal against the run of play to Pickett, extending the Port Adelaide advantage to 19 points.
Brisbane then enjoyed a brief purple patch, kicking four goals in seven minutes to take the lead. The first, toClark Keating in the 16th minute, came from a solid contested mark in the forward pocket; toDaniel Bradshaw in the 19th minute from a 40m set shot; to Akermanis in the 21st minute, with a snap shot from the boundary line after a boundary throw-in; and finally toTim Notting in the 22nd minute after he roved a goal square marking contest.Toby Thurstans (Port Adelaide) kicked a steadying goal from a coast-to-coast play in the 26th minute, and Brisbane led the game by one point at half time, Brisbane 6.7 (43) led Port Adelaide 6.6 (42).
In an even start to the third quarter, Thurstans kicked his second goal in the 2nd minute of the third quarter to regain the lead for Port Adelaide, before Notting kicked two goals on the run in two minutes to regain a six-point lead for Brisbane. Pickett kicked his third goal in the 8th minute after winning a high tackle free kick at centre half-forward; andDaniel Bradshaw kicked another for Brisbane in the 10th minute from a 45m set shot to restore Brisbane's six-point lead. The two teams then settled into a tight arm wrestle, each kicking one behind over the following ten minutes.
Then, Port Adelaide enjoyed a strong end to the quarter, kicking four goals in the final ten minutes of the quarter to open up a three goal lead.Josh Mahoney kicked the first in the 22nd minute after marking 30m from goal;Gavin Wanganeen kicked the second in the 25th minute with a mark from the same position;Shaun Burgoyne kicked the third in the 28th minute after roving a ruck contest in the forward pocket; and Wanganeen kicked the fourth in the 30th minute on the run after marking in the forward pocket. Brisbane had one chance in the final minute, Akermanis missing a snap shot from the pocket, and Port Adelaide led by 17 points at three-quarter time, Port Adelaide 12.8 (80) led Brisbane 9.9 (63).
Mahoney having a very good quarter. Will it carry over the top – For Wanganeen! To put them three goals in front!
They are the winningest team in Australia. The old Port Adelaide have won 36 [SANFL] premierships. Today at the MCG may just be their finest hour.
In the critical opening of the final quarter, Port Adelaide struck quickly, Gavin Wanganeen roving at full forward after Shaun Burgoyne created a turnover to kick his third goal in the second minute; and then Wanganeen again in the sixth minute to kick his fourth goal from 45m in general play. At this stage, Port Adelaide led by 29 points, having kicked six goals – four by Wanganeen – inside fifteen minutes either side of three quarter time. It was a premiership-winning burst against which Brisbane could not recover. Bradshaw kicked a goal in the 9th minute from a turnover to bring the margin back to 22 points, but after Thurstans kicked his third goal in the 13th minute, any Brisbane resistance ended. Port Adelaide kicked two more goals – toStuart Dew in the 23rd minute andAdam Kingsley in the 25th minute – eventually winning by a comfortable 40 points, Port Adelaide 17.11 (113) d. Brisbane 10.13 (73).[6]
Following the match, Port Adelaide coachMark 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!", in reference to a comment made by Scott (the major sponsor of the Port Adelaide Football Club at the time), 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" – which had been acquired after having losing in the previous two finals series, despite dominating the home-and-away seasons in those years.[7]
Byron Pickett, a premiership-winning defender withNorth Melbourne in 1999, turned into a match-winning on-baller for the Power, and he 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.
| Position | Player | Club | Total votes | Vote summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (winner) | Byron Pickett | Port Adelaide | 10 | 1, 3, 3, 3, 0 |
| 2 | Gavin Wanganeen | Port Adelaide | 7 | 3, 0, 0, 1, 3 |
| 3 | Kane Cornes | Port Adelaide | 6 | 0, 2, 2, 0, 2 |
| 4 | Peter Burgoyne | Port Adelaide | 5 | 2, 1, 1, 0, 1 |
| 5 | Roger James | Port Adelaide | 2 | 0, 0, 0, 2, 0 |
| Voter | Role | 3 Votes | 2 Votes | 1 Vote |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Digby Beacham | Sunday Times, Perth | Gavin Wanganeen | Peter Burgoyne | Byron Pickett |
| Roger Vaughan | AAP | Byron Pickett | Kane Cornes | Peter Burgoyne |
| Clinton Grybas | 3AW | Byron Pickett | Kane Cornes | Peter Burgoyne |
| Michael Turner | K-Rock | Byron Pickett | Roger James | Gavin Wanganeen |
| Bruce Abernethy | Triple M Adelaide | Gavin Wanganeen | Kane Cornes | Peter Burgoyne |
Alastair Lynch was reported several times for his fight withDarryl Wakelin, and was ultimately suspended for 10 weeks and fined $15,000 – although, as he retired after the game, he did not end up serving the suspension. Lynch later noted that he mentally snapped after having injured his quad early in the game, and that his poor spectacle remains one of his greatest career regrets.[8] Additionally,Jonathan Brown was suspended for five matches and fined $3000 for striking and wrestling withJosh Carr,Simon Black was suspended for a total of three matches on two separate striking charges, Darryl Wakelin was fined $5000 for wrestling with Lynch, and Josh Carr was fined $2400 for wrestling Brown.[9][10]
Following this game, the AFL introduced doubled tribunal penalties for indiscretions in the grand final, in an attempt to protect the spectacle of the grand final to its global audience.[8] As of 2025, the 2004 incidents remain the last major grand final brawls.
     Port Adelaide |    Brisbane Lions |
| 2004 AFL Grand Final | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday, 25 September 2:40pm | Port Adelaide | def. | Brisbane Lions | MCG (crowd: 77,671) | |
| 4.5 (29) 6.6 (42) 12.8 (80) 17.11 (113) | Q1 Q2 Q3 Final | 2.2 (14) 6.7 (43) 9.9 (63) 10.13 (73) | Umpires:James,Allen,McInerney Norm Smith Medal:Byron Pickett (Port Adelaide) Television broadcast:Network Ten National anthem:Guy Sebastian | ||
| Wanganeen 4 Pickett,Thurstans 3 S. Burgoyne,Carr,Dew,Kingsley,Lade,Mahoney,Tredrea 1 | Goals | 3Akermanis,Bradshaw,Notting 1Keating | |||
| Pickett,P. Burgoyne,Wanganeen,Thurstans,K. Cornes | Best | Akermanis,Notting,Lappin,Bradshaw | |||
| Wakelin – Attempting to strike and wrestling Lynch Carr – 2× wrestling | Reports | Lynch – Seven offences against Wakelin Brown – Striking and wrestling Carr Black – 2× striking | |||
| |||||
| Station | Region | Play-by-play commentators | Analysts and boundary riders |
|---|---|---|---|
| Triple M | National | James Brayshaw Brian Taylor | Sam Newman Jason Dunstall |
| 3AW | Melbourne, Victoria | Clinton Grybas Rex Hunt | Gerard Healy Terry Wallace Robert Dipierdomenico |
| 5AA | Adelaide, South Australia | KG Cunningham Chris Dittmar | Russell Ebert |
| ABC | National | Dan Lonergan Drew Morphett | Stephen Williams Mark Maclure Stan Alves Caroline Wilson? Peter Brookby |
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