Leigh Matthews felt like 'punching' Andrew Demetriou after 2004 Grand Final

LEIGH Matthews has revealed he felt like "punching" AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou immediately after the 2004 Grand Final.

Leigh

FOUR-TIME premiership coach Leigh Matthews has revealed he felt like "punching" AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou immediately after the 2004 Grand Final.

In his new book, Accept The Challenge, Matthews said the AFL's failure to overturn its deal with the Melbourne Cricket Club that guaranteed at least one preliminary final at the MCG had seriously hindered the Brisbane Lions chances of a fourth successive premiership.

Should I be proud or sad?

And, while he doesn't want to take anything away from 2004 winner Port Adelaide, he believes the deteriorating relationship between the Lions and the league might have been behind the AFL's inactivity.

"We had a chance to do something unbelievably special and external forces intervened to make our task harder," Matthews said. "Do I feel we were dudded by the schedule? Well, yes, I do."

Leigh Matthews

Furious at the AFL's scheduling of the preliminary final at the MCG - not the Gabba - and on the Saturday night, Matthews refused to shake the hands of Demetriou and then AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson after the Grand Final.

Matthews explained: "They went to shake hands and offer their condolences, but my prickly mood was not into conciliation; it was into shooting the messenger.

"In my mind the AFL denied us our best shot at winning a historic fourth consecutive premiership and here were the league's two main office-bearers and decision-makers having the temerity to act friendly when clearly they'd been the enemy.

"I was in no mood for diplomacy, frankly I felt more like punching them on the nose, and muttered to them, 'You blokes have got to be kidding', before turning my back and walking away."

Only one team in history, Collingwood's remarkable "Machine" side from 1927-30, has won four flags in a row.

Matthews said the fact the AFL renegotiated its deal with the MCC shortly after the 2004 Grand Final proved it had not done enough to make the change earlier.

"Given what later became obvious about who was actually responsible for the AFL's actions, or non-actions, I realised it was Andrew, not Adrian, who was probably the main culprit," he said.

"I always feel quite sick whenever I think about culmination of the 2004 season."

Port Adelaide finished top of the ladder, earning a home preliminary final.

Brisbane also earned that right, but the AFL's deal with the MCG meant the Lions had to play in Melbourne.

Matthews said his anger had grown over time, but admitted that he had never raised it with Demetriou or other AFL officials in the years since.

Accept the Challenge by Leigh Matthews. Reprinted by permission of Random House Australia. All Rights Reserved.

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