The 2004 AFL season was the 108th season of the
Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior
Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured sixteen clubs, ran from 26 March until 25 September, and comprised a 22-game home-and-away season followed by a
finals series featuring the top eight clubs.
A five-minute brawl broke out between rivals
Hawthorn and
Essendon in the round 11 match, after which one Bomber (
Justin Murphy) and four Hawks players received suspensions totalling 16 matches, and a combined total of $70,700 of fines were handed out. 27 charges were brought before the
AFL Tribunal, the most ever from a single game.[1] The game is widely known as the "
Line in the Sand" match as the brawls were sparked in the third quarter after Hawthorn players were urged at a half-time address by club legend
Dermott Brereton to metaphorically draw such a line; Brereton thought the young Hawks were being physically intimidated by the more experienced Bombers.[2]
Two games on the same day consisted of the 24.10 (154) to 12.8 (80) scoreline – the aforementioned Hawthorn vs. Essendon match as well as the Kangaroos vs. Richmond match that was played in the evening.
The
Sydney Swans handed
St Kilda their first defeat of the season, winning by 36 points in a match best known for
Leo Barry's shut-down effort on
Fraser Gehrig, who statistically played his worst match for the season registering only two disposals.[3]
The
Brisbane Lions' 141-point win over
Adelaide was their biggest ever win, and Adelaide's biggest ever defeat.
Hawthorn coach Peter Schwab announced his intention of leaving the role at the end of the season in the week leading up to their game verses
Kangaroos. The Roos 80-point win over the Hawks fast-tracked Schwab’s departure to the days following with assistant
Donald McDonald appointed as interim coach for the remainder of the year.
West Coast were eliminated in the first week of the finals for the third consecutive year.
As of 2023, this is
Essendon’s most recent finals victory. This drought will have amassed 7,295[4] days at the conclusion of the
2024 home-and-away season (August 25th).
Brisbane Lions played its "home" final at the MCG despite being ranked above
Geelong due to the agreement then in place with the
Melbourne Cricket Club that at least one game each week of the finals be played at the
MCG.
This was the first grand final in the history of the AFL to be played by two non-
Victorian teams;
Port Adelaide's first; and the
Brisbane Lions' fourth consecutive.
Match attendance
Total match attendance for all games was 5,915,407. Attendance at the grand final was 77,671. The largest non-finals attendance was 60,898 people for the
Collingwood v
Carlton game in round 22.
St Kilda won its first ten matches of the season, which was at that time the longest winning streak in its history. This record stood until 2009, when the Saints won 19 games in a row.
A five-minute brawl broke out between rivals
Hawthorn and
Essendon in the round 11 match, after which one Bomber (
Justin Murphy) and four Hawks players received suspensions totalling 16 matches, and a combined total of $70,700 of fines were handed out. 27 charges were brought before the
AFL Tribunal, the most ever from a single game.[1] The game is widely known as the "
Line in the Sand" match as the brawls were sparked in the third quarter after Hawthorn players were urged at a half-time address by club legend
Dermott Brereton to metaphorically draw such a line; Brereton thought the young Hawks were being physically intimidated by the more experienced Bombers.[2]
In round 13,
Geelong defeated the
Brisbane Lions for the first time since the merged club was established in 1997. The win broke a 10-game winning streak for Brisbane against Geelong.
After the round 13 win over the
Western Bulldogs,
Adelaide coach
Gary Ayres was told by the board of directors that his contract would not be renewed for the next season, but would be allowed to coach the rest of 2004. Ayres subsequently resigned on the same day, without shaking hands or a word with the media. He was replaced by
Neil Craig at first on a temporary basis, but then got the job permanently for
2005 and onwards.[5]
During the round 19 match between
Sydney and the
Kangaroos, Sydney head trainer Wally Jackson suffered a fatal heart attack during the last quarter.[6] Most of the Sydney players were upset and distracted as Jackson was given
CPR on the interchange bench; and despite Sydney having led the Kangaroos by 40 points at three-quarter time, they faded to lose by six points.
With its round 22 win over Adelaide,
Port Adelaide clinched its third consecutive minor premiership, a feat achieved by only two other clubs in the previous 50 seasons (
Melbourne 1955-60;
Essendon 1999-2001). This would later prove crucial in relation to home ground advantage at the preliminary final stage.
Despite earning a home preliminary final by beating St Kilda two weeks earlier, the Brisbane Lions were forced to play Geelong in Melbourne at the MCG, due to an agreement between the AFL and the MCG to play at least one match per week at the ground in finals. This contractual stipulation was removed following renegotiation the following season.[7]
Essendon’s victory over Melbourne in the first week of the finals remains, as of 2023, its most recent finals victory. If Essendon make the finals in 2024, the first week of the finals will mark 20 years to the week since the team’s last finals win.
The 2004 AFL season was the 108th season of the
Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior
Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured sixteen clubs, ran from 26 March until 25 September, and comprised a 22-game home-and-away season followed by a
finals series featuring the top eight clubs.
A five-minute brawl broke out between rivals
Hawthorn and
Essendon in the round 11 match, after which one Bomber (
Justin Murphy) and four Hawks players received suspensions totalling 16 matches, and a combined total of $70,700 of fines were handed out. 27 charges were brought before the
AFL Tribunal, the most ever from a single game.[1] The game is widely known as the "
Line in the Sand" match as the brawls were sparked in the third quarter after Hawthorn players were urged at a half-time address by club legend
Dermott Brereton to metaphorically draw such a line; Brereton thought the young Hawks were being physically intimidated by the more experienced Bombers.[2]
Two games on the same day consisted of the 24.10 (154) to 12.8 (80) scoreline – the aforementioned Hawthorn vs. Essendon match as well as the Kangaroos vs. Richmond match that was played in the evening.
The
Sydney Swans handed
St Kilda their first defeat of the season, winning by 36 points in a match best known for
Leo Barry's shut-down effort on
Fraser Gehrig, who statistically played his worst match for the season registering only two disposals.[3]
The
Brisbane Lions' 141-point win over
Adelaide was their biggest ever win, and Adelaide's biggest ever defeat.
Hawthorn coach Peter Schwab announced his intention of leaving the role at the end of the season in the week leading up to their game verses
Kangaroos. The Roos 80-point win over the Hawks fast-tracked Schwab’s departure to the days following with assistant
Donald McDonald appointed as interim coach for the remainder of the year.
West Coast were eliminated in the first week of the finals for the third consecutive year.
As of 2023, this is
Essendon’s most recent finals victory. This drought will have amassed 7,295[4] days at the conclusion of the
2024 home-and-away season (August 25th).
Brisbane Lions played its "home" final at the MCG despite being ranked above
Geelong due to the agreement then in place with the
Melbourne Cricket Club that at least one game each week of the finals be played at the
MCG.
This was the first grand final in the history of the AFL to be played by two non-
Victorian teams;
Port Adelaide's first; and the
Brisbane Lions' fourth consecutive.
Match attendance
Total match attendance for all games was 5,915,407. Attendance at the grand final was 77,671. The largest non-finals attendance was 60,898 people for the
Collingwood v
Carlton game in round 22.
St Kilda won its first ten matches of the season, which was at that time the longest winning streak in its history. This record stood until 2009, when the Saints won 19 games in a row.
A five-minute brawl broke out between rivals
Hawthorn and
Essendon in the round 11 match, after which one Bomber (
Justin Murphy) and four Hawks players received suspensions totalling 16 matches, and a combined total of $70,700 of fines were handed out. 27 charges were brought before the
AFL Tribunal, the most ever from a single game.[1] The game is widely known as the "
Line in the Sand" match as the brawls were sparked in the third quarter after Hawthorn players were urged at a half-time address by club legend
Dermott Brereton to metaphorically draw such a line; Brereton thought the young Hawks were being physically intimidated by the more experienced Bombers.[2]
In round 13,
Geelong defeated the
Brisbane Lions for the first time since the merged club was established in 1997. The win broke a 10-game winning streak for Brisbane against Geelong.
After the round 13 win over the
Western Bulldogs,
Adelaide coach
Gary Ayres was told by the board of directors that his contract would not be renewed for the next season, but would be allowed to coach the rest of 2004. Ayres subsequently resigned on the same day, without shaking hands or a word with the media. He was replaced by
Neil Craig at first on a temporary basis, but then got the job permanently for
2005 and onwards.[5]
During the round 19 match between
Sydney and the
Kangaroos, Sydney head trainer Wally Jackson suffered a fatal heart attack during the last quarter.[6] Most of the Sydney players were upset and distracted as Jackson was given
CPR on the interchange bench; and despite Sydney having led the Kangaroos by 40 points at three-quarter time, they faded to lose by six points.
With its round 22 win over Adelaide,
Port Adelaide clinched its third consecutive minor premiership, a feat achieved by only two other clubs in the previous 50 seasons (
Melbourne 1955-60;
Essendon 1999-2001). This would later prove crucial in relation to home ground advantage at the preliminary final stage.
Despite earning a home preliminary final by beating St Kilda two weeks earlier, the Brisbane Lions were forced to play Geelong in Melbourne at the MCG, due to an agreement between the AFL and the MCG to play at least one match per week at the ground in finals. This contractual stipulation was removed following renegotiation the following season.[7]
Essendon’s victory over Melbourne in the first week of the finals remains, as of 2023, its most recent finals victory. If Essendon make the finals in 2024, the first week of the finals will mark 20 years to the week since the team’s last finals win.