2004 AFL Grand Final revisited: Port Adelaide and Brisbane players reflect on historic decider 20 years on
Almost 20 years ago, Port Adelaide and Brisbane met in the 2004 grand final. Ahead of Saturday’s Adelaide Oval clash, MATT TURNER spoke to the big names on both sides of that historic decider.
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It was history in the making for Port Adelaide. Seven years after entering the AFL, the Power won its first grand final in 2004, beating Brisbane by 40 points. Port was looking to overcome three consecutive seasons of September shortcomings, while the Lions were aiming to match Collingwood’s record of four flags in a row (1927-30). As the 2004 grand finalists prepare to meet again on Saturday, almost 20 years on, Matt Turner spoke to players from both sides about that flag decider.
THE BUILD-UP
The Power booked its spot after a rollercoaster one-goal win in a preliminary final against St Kilda at Football Park. Brisbane got there by prevailing by nine points over Geelong in a home preliminary final that happened to be at the MCG under what was then a contentious league arrangement.
Inaugural Port Adelaide captain Gavin Wanganeen: I’m 31 – in the Bombers’ premiership in 1993, I was just a kid – so the stakes felt higher and I was a bit more nervous. The nerves were around the failure of losing – they’re in the back of your mind. There’s one winner, one loser and you’re wondering which one you’re going to be. It just meant so much to me – I really wanted to win the first one for the Power.
Port Adelaide midfielder Dom Cassisi: I roomed with Kane Cornes and he opened the blinds the morning of the game and we were like ‘the day’s here’. The nerves set in straight away. The whole week’s build-up was awesome, but then it was ‘shit, it’s real now’.
Port Adelaide ruckman Dean Brogan: I was rooming with Jarrad Schofield at the time and we’d had an edgy sleep the night before. The first thing we did was pull the curtains back. It was a beautiful sunny day and we both looked at each other and went ‘we’re not losing today. We’re going to win a premiership today’.
Acting Port Adelaide skipper Warren Tredrea: We had a quiet confidence. All the stresses that we’d previously had about not performing at the right time to get there were gone because we were there.
Cassisi: Everyone was so calm in the rooms. Everyone was in the zone to get the job done.
THE EARLY SPOTFIRES
Plenty is happening early in the match. Brogan gives away a free kick at the first bounce after charging into Brisbane ruckman Clark Keating and before long there are spotfires everywhere involving the likes of Josh Carr, Jonathon Brown and Damien Hardwick. Chad Cornes tests out Brown’s knee, injured in the preliminary final, with a pre-match punch.
Brisbane forward Jonathon Brown: We didn’t go out there targeting anyone, (coach) Leigh (Matthews) always preached controlled aggression.
Brogan: Damien Hardwick grabbed me before we ran out and said ‘that first centre bounce, stick your knee into Clark Keating and send a message’. He was looking at me in my eyes quite aggressively and you could tell he wasn’t mucking around. If I didn’t do it, I was scared at what Hardwick would’ve done to me. Keating had a massive influence in their other grand finals. I probably went a little too hard, but maybe I did send a message and put a little doubt in his mind that he was in for a long day.
Wanganeen: It wasn’t pre-planned but it was in the nature of Josh Carr and Damien Hardwick, they liked the aggressive stuff. And you have to be aggressive playing in a grand final.
Brogan: We weren’t afraid of Brisbane. We knew they’d won the last three flags but we didn’t care. We were also that sort of team – we picked fights every week. It was full on at the start. Bodies were flying everywhere.
Tredrea: They had some tough guys but so did we. As much as they’d had success, we weren’t overawed by Brisbane. We knew we were good enough to beat them but hadn’t been able to beat them at the right time.
Port Adelaide full-back Darryl Wakelin: In previous encounters, they’d outmuscled us on occasions so there was a conscious attitude going into the grand final that we weren’t going to be pushed around.
Brown: My knee was in bad shape but I couldn’t feel a thing (when Cornes punched) because it was heavily needled. It was a pretty significant knee injury but it’s a grand final so you play and put it on the line. I didn’t want to react and start something before the bounce. But when the skirmish happens in the middle of the ground, obviously everyone’s going to go in and support their teammates.
THE FIGHT
The most notable incident occurs between Brisbane veteran Alastair Lynch and Wakelin in the goalsquare. Lynch goes out swinging in his farewell game and cops a 10-match suspension post-match.
Wakelin: He said something to me before the game and I thought ‘shit, something could happen here’. The trigger was after Tredrea took a nice mark back in the hole and I saw Lynch pull up short. I nearly gave myself a little fist pump and thought ‘beautiful, that’ll work for us’.
Brogan: The crowd roared and you could see there was a scuffle but it wasn’t until after the game we realised how significant it was.
Brown: Lynchy was significantly hampered and frustrated he couldn’t contribute from a physical point of view.
Wakelin: Akermanis and Shaun Burgoyne were having a bit of push and shove and I said ‘boys, sort it out’, then Lynch grabbed me by the throat and said ‘what are you going to do about it, hero?’ Then it was on. It blew up. Shaun and Aker weren’t that far away, but obviously thinking ‘we’re not going to get caught up in that with two 95 or 100kg guys going at it’. It was probably the right move.
16 years ago #OnThisDay Port #Adelaide captured the 2004 #AFL premiership & tonight â¦@7NewsAdelaideâ© Darryl Wakelin re-lives his crazy run-in with Alastair Lynch #weareportadelaidepic.twitter.com/vlTj4IxY3C
— John Casey (@JohnCasey2880) September 25, 2020
Brogan: It was absolutely wild. Darryl did so well to tuck up and be close to Lynch so that none of those (swings) really connected. If Darryl tries to pull away and there’s a bit of space, Darryl gets knocked out.
Wakelin: I thought I just need to cover up and protect my head and keep him at arm’s length. But he kept swinging, so I thought ‘f--- you, I’ll pull his head in and give him a few little uppercuts and just get him off’. We were certainly both blowing by the end of it. It was intense. It’s incredible how many people have said to me they were in that stand looking down on it.
THE HOT START
The Power kicks the game’s first three goals via Carr, Brendon Lade and Tredrea and leads 4.5 to 2.2 at quarter-time. Lade played with a stress fracture in his back and was touch and go if he would play.
Wanganeen: We were reasonably happy with our start, it gave us a sniff of confidence.
Brogan: Once we settled, we really dominated the first quarter. We actually butchered the ball a little bit and should’ve been up by more at quarter-time.
Tredrea: Sarah, Ladey’s wife, was really emotional before the game saying something along the lines of ‘just play him, Choco, jab him up’. But he proved his fitness and then kicked that really pivotal goal early.
THE LIONS RESPONSE
But the Lions fought back in the second term, booting four goals in a row at one stage to hold a one-point lead at the main break.
Wanganeen: They wrestled their way back nicely, but we weren’t surprised. I remember thinking at half-time ‘are they going to turn it on here or are we going to be able to step up again?’
Brogan: I didn’t think we were in trouble but I was concerned about the way we were playing. I remember coming down the race and Choco was clapping us in saying ‘we’ve got them right where we want them, they’ve got nothing left’. I thought he was crazy and that we’d just had one of the worst quarters we’d played. But the way Choco sold the message to us was ‘we’re not playing anywhere near the level we should be’. He put Peter into the midfield, got into the backs a little bit saying they were playing boring and had to put their polka-dot jumpers on and stand out. He put so much confidence in us … and it flipped our mentality a bit. If we had a coach who looked concerned and got a bit worried, maybe the day wouldn’t have gone the way it did.
Cassisi: Choco made a massive point at half-time that Brisbane had gone in a bit sore so he wanted us to run, take the game on and take the wind out of their sails. He encouraged Matthew Bishop to get the ball, run and bounce. Don’t play safe.
THE PREMIERSHIP QUARTER
The third term is tight. Brisbane leads by a goal at the 20-minute mark before things turn quickly. Port kicks four majors in seven-and-a-half minutes to take a 17-point lead into three-quarter time. Wanganeen kicks two. Shaun Burgoyne, swung forward, kicks another. Josh Mahoney boots one and has another key moment, keeping the ball in play, which leads to a Wanganeen goal. Wanganeen’s other major comes after Bishop takes the game on, as Williams demanded.
Brown: I had a shot during the third quarter where I could’ve got it out to two goals. I don’t think we were ever able to build a margin to create enough self-doubt in Port Adelaide, who had failed the test the previous few years, for them to think ‘shit, maybe it’s happening again to us’.
Wanganeen: It happened so fast. You could feel and sense a bit of momentum swing and energy start to go our way.
Wakelin: It wasn’t until late in the third you thought we might have broken the dam wall. We knew we had the legs and could run away from them.
Wanganeen: The message at three-quarter time was to keep going hard, not let off and not give them a sniff. The mindset was to finish the game off and take what’s ours, what we felt we deserved and what we needed to get out of the last three years.
Brogan: At three-quarter time, they looked gone. They were all on the ground, getting rubs, Lynch was injured and we were all saying we’ve got more energy than them.
Brown: Looking around into our boys’ eyes, there was a fair bit of self-doubt. They way they finished that quarter, it didn’t look great. But it’s funny, at three-quarter time the year before against Sydney in the prelim, it was very similar and we won. In grand finals though, if an opposition gains momentum, you often see blowouts because you ultimately lose hope. There’s no next week. We had confidence surviving with a lot of banged up guys in 2003 but the problem was we ran into a team that was ready for us.
THE ’FREAK’
Wanganeen sends the Power on its way by booting the first two goals of the fourth quarter, the second coming from a snap from about 45m that puts his side 29 points up. Brisbane trims the margin back to 22, before late goals to Toby Thurstans, Adam Kingsley and Stuart Dew ice the game.
Cassisi: Gav’s a freak. The game opened up and he showed what he can do.
Wakelin: A guy like that, a superstar, knows the moments in the game, the season and in his career. It’s one thing thinking about it, it’s another to be able to go and do it.
Wanganeen: Brett Montgomery gave me a nice little handball, I called out for it and I hit it sweet – one of the sweetest kicks in my 300 games, maybe only second to the one in the prelim. I was someone who only celebrated important goals or goals in prelims and grand finals, so that day I celebrated. The weight lifted off our whole football club and Choco (coach Mark Williams) on that day obviously came into play as well.
Cassisi: When Kingers kicked that goal, a few of us looked at each other and thought ‘I don’t think we can lose it from here’. We didn’t say it but we just knew. You watch it back and think maybe we would have known earlier, but knowing how good Brisbane were, you basically had to wait until the end to relax.
Tredrea: With five minutes to go I was still screaming to our runner (ex-Power player) Shayne Breuer thinking we could still lose. You didn’t want to let up and let the footy gods get you.
THE MOMENT
Power coach Mark Williams leaves the box early and is in tears as he comes down the stairs. He then famously holds his loosened tie above his head in a mock gesture aimed at those who had called his side “chokers” because of their run of finals failings.
Brogan: When you start seeing the marshalls and officials walking around the boundary, and heard the crowd roaring because Choco is walking down, that’s when you knew you’re about to win a grand final. I tried to take it all in but it’s hard because you’re around the footy and the game’s still in play.
Wanganeen: I remember quickly looking up on the big screen at the ‘G and saw Choco coming down wiping his tears. I was thinking to myself ‘I’m not surprised, how good is that’. A lot of pressure was gone and he’d achieved a dream to win an AFL premiership as a coach of Port Adelaide.
Wakelin: It was an iconic moment.
THE SIREN
The siren sounds. Port prevails 17.11 (113) to 10.13 (73). Power coaches, support staff, families and players stream onto the field to celebrate, among them injured stars Matthew Primus, the team’s captain, and Josh Francou.
Brogan: I dropped to my knees because I was exhausted. I’d played 100 per cent of that game because of Ladey (Brendon Lade) had a back injury.
Cassisi: I was with Schoey (Jarrad Schofield) and Dewy. We all hugged each other then fell to the ground. The emotions were a bit mixed because to win was surreal but you felt for Matty and Josh Francou. We wouldn’t have been there without Matty and Josh was a phenomenal player. It seemed a bit cruel they didn’t get to play but I think those guys were also able to enjoy the fact we were finally able to win one.
Tredrea: Choco was one of the first people I hugged. He said words, sort of congratulations, sort of screaming, ‘yes, you beauty’.
Brogan: I’ve never seen so many grown men cry. There were so many storylines to that grand final. Matty, Josh Francou, emergencies like Jared Poulton and Stuart Cochrane, Hardwick’s last game, Carry probably has in the back of his head it’s his last game (before joining Fremantle), Choco and being called chokers. There was a lot of relief and joy.
Brown: It was almost like a loss in the family. A really deep despair. For us, I think it would’ve been pretty unanimous that we’d go down as the greatest team of all time if we win that game, so to let that fall out of our grasp was frustrating.
Wakelin: For a lot of us who’d been at the club a long time, you think about guys like David Hutton, Bob Clayton, Brian Cunningham, who’d been there for so long, and then see all the trainers and officials who’d been through the disappointment of the previous seasons. To win was the ultimate reward. It was emotional with Matt and Josh not being a part of it.
Wanganeen: It was amazing chaos. Mayhem. All the listed players and coaches came on, and it was obviously sad for Matty and Josh.
Tredrea: I got interviewed on TV and I told the doubters to stick it up their bottoms and for someone who went to work in the media, it wasn’t my finest moment. But it was raw and real because we’d been under significant pressure. We’d dominated the previous two years and never got there, and you didn’t want that to be on your footy tombstone.
THE MEDAL
Byron Pickett, who kicks three goals, has 20 disposals and provides plenty of run, polls 10 votes to win the Norm Smith Medal. Wanganeen is second with seven votes, while Kane Cornes (six) and Peter Burgoyne (five) are next in line.
Brown: That Port team was known for having so many talented Indigenous boys and if they were going to make up most of the best players, it was going to be hard to beat them, especially with a banged up team.
Wanganeen: It was really special for all us four Indigenous boys to make a significant contribution. For our backgrounds, where we come from and our mob.
Wakelin: It was great for Shaun after starting on Akermanis to go forward and kick that crucial goal. It was one of the best games Peter’s played.
Cassisi: Byron was unreal. You could see he was made for the big stage, didn’t look overawed and he used his weapon – his run and carry. It was awesome to watch out there. He was doing things you can’t teach.
Wanganeen: It was fantastic to see Choppy win it for him and his family. I thought I was a sniff (laughs) but nevermind, I was happy to play my role by kicking those four goals in an important part of the game.
THE CUP
Port Adelaide legend John Cahill hands Williams and Tredrea the premiership trophy. Williams makes a memorable speech, including telling the club’s major sponsor “Allan Scott, you were wrong” for doubting the Power could win a flag with him as coach.
Tredrea: It was great that Jack could do it and deliver it being the club’s most decorated coach and its first AFL coach. Even before going on stage, I was always conscious of Matty (not playing). He sat in on selection, was at every training session, was really present as captain. We were always mindful collectively and individually because it’s a cliche, but clubs and squads win premierships, not just the 22 on the day. We were all hugging Matty and he was one of the most emotional blokes there that day, just cheering on the success, not from an individual ‘poor me’ point of view. It was ‘you beauty, we did it’.
THE FALLOUT
The two clubs have only reached one grand final each since, both losses. Port fell to Geelong in 2007 by a record 119 points, while the Lions went down last year to Collingwood by four points.
Brown: There was tremendous frustration we had to play a home prelim final at the MCG and blokes get banged up. But you can only deal with what you’ve served up and that’s why you can never take anything away from Port Adelaide. It was not a fluke, they were a fantastic team for that period. If they weren’t our greatest rival, they were one of and one of the teams that pushed us. It would’ve been a real let-down for that Port Adelaide group if they’d never won a flag in that era. They’d be tortured souls. I just wish it had been someone else they cleaned up. I was 22 and was fortunate enough to play four (grand finals) in a row, but it was frustrating too because I was never able to quite climb back to have another crack at it.
Brogan: It was my fourth year playing AFL so I thought it was going to happen every year. You realise later in your career how hard they are to win.
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