Sacked: Mal Michael says Collingwood was robbed of 2002 premiership

Pies fans still say they were robbed of a flag in 2002 after a Anthony Rocca set shot was judged a behind in the decider. In the latest edition of SACKED, Lions full back Mal Michael agrees.

Brisbane triple premiership defender Mal Michael believes Anthony Rocca should have been awarded the contentious goal that could have denied the Lions their second premiership in the remarkable three-peat.

And Michael has showered praise on 2004 conqueror Port Adelaide, adamant the AFL ruling that saw the Lions playing a home preliminary final at the MCG did not cost them a fourth successive flag.

Michael saw Rocca’s shot at the eight-minute mark of the 2002 Grand Final sail through close to the goalpost as it was contentiously ruled a behind by the goal umpire.

Josh Fraser kicked the next goal at the 10 minute mark of the last term to put the Pies up by three points, so they could have been leading by eight points.

Instead they lost by only seven points in what would have been one of Grand Final football’s greatest upsets given the ratbag group Mick Malthouse had assembled.

“It is kind of a Wayne Harmes moment,” Michael told Sacked of another late-gasp controversy that cost the Pies a flag, 23 years after the 1979 loss to Carton.

“I know Anthony really well and I know that he doesn’t celebrate goals if he doesn’t kick them. So if he misses he will be disappointed. When he kicked it he has done the big jump and pump (celebration).

Anthony Rocca complains about a disallowed goal in the 2002 grand final.

“And I looked over and it looked like it was a goal from where I was standing. I could understand the goal umpire that stands right under the post but from where I was standing it kind of looked like it snuck in.”

“We nearly lost the Grand Final, and we came within a whisker of losing that. There was a particular time in the last quarter where Josh Fraser kicked the banana from the boundary, and then, literally, 10 seconds later, it started raining.

“I remember I was walking back, and I looked at Justin Leppitsch, and I said, we could actually lose this. There was a lot more swearing in that but I said, “We could actually lose this, this is slipping through our fingers” and we need to do something here to get it back.”

Anthony Rocca being tackled by Mal Michael in 2003. Picture: Jody D'Arcy.

The Lions won three successive flags but through a contractual agreement to play a certain amount of finals games at the MCG were forced into a Saturday night preliminary final at the home of footy instead of the Gabba.

They survived that game but endured a spate of debilitating injuries that saw them limp into the Grand Final – and with a six-day break off a pair of flights from and to Melbourne.

In 2013, Leigh Matthews said he wanted to “punch” Andrew Demetriou immediately after the game. But Michael has bucked the popular Brisbane player theory that it cost the club the first four-peat since the 1927-30 Machine team.

“Looking back on it now, it’s an injustice. A total injustice,” he said. “But we would have lost to Port Adelaide. I have gone back and looked at it and they would have beaten us regardless.

“They were a good side and they were fit and they were basically us in 2001 and we were Essendon. They ran over the top of us. We led at half time and Essendon led at half time.

“We had no answers. If that game had gone for another quarter, we would have lost by 100 points.”