2003 AFL Grand Final
| 2003 AFL Grand Final | ||||||||||||||||
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The Melbourne Cricket Ground, where the 2003 AFL Grand Final took place.
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| Date | 27 September 2003, 2:40pm | |||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Melbourne Cricket Ground | |||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 79,451 | |||||||||||||||
| Umpires | #3 Stephen McBurney, #7 Hayden Kennedy, #10 Brett Allen | |||||||||||||||
| Coin toss won by | Michael Voss (Brisbane Lions) | |||||||||||||||
| Kicked toward | Punt Road End | |||||||||||||||
| Ceremonies | ||||||||||||||||
| Pre-match entertainment | Christine Anu, Gorgi Quill, the finalists from the first season of Australian Idol | |||||||||||||||
| National anthem | Christine Anu | |||||||||||||||
| Accolades | ||||||||||||||||
| Norm Smith Medallist | Simon Black (Brisbane Lions) | |||||||||||||||
| Jock McHale Medallist | Leigh Matthews (Brisbane Lions) | |||||||||||||||
| Broadcast in Australia | ||||||||||||||||
| Network | Network Ten | |||||||||||||||
| Commentators |
Stephen Quartermain (Host) Anthony Hudson (Commentator) Robert Walls (Expert Commentator) Christi Malthouse (Boundary Rider) Gerard Whateley (Boundary Rider) |
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The 2003 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Brisbane Lions and the Collingwood Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 27 September 2003. Brisbane won by a margin of 50 points, marking that club's third consecutive premiership victory and third premiership overall.
It was the 107th annual Grand Final of the Australian Football League (formerly the Victorian Football League), staged to determine the premiers for the 2003 AFL season. The game was played in front of 79,451 spectators, a smaller attendance than previous years owing to the construction of new seating at the ground for the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
Brisbane had appeared in the AFL Grand Final for the past two years, winning both contests. Collingwood had competed against Brisbane in the previous year's Grand Final, losing by a margin of 9 points.
At the conclusion of the home and away season, Port Adelaide had finished first on the AFL ladder with 18 wins and 4 losses, winning their second successive McClelland Trophy. Collingwood had finished second with 15 wins and 7 losses.
The 2003 Grand Final had a unique build-up. History certainly repeated itself this year as Anthony Rocca, a Collingwood forward and thought to be one of the most important players in the team, was suspended during the week for an elbow to the head of a Port Adelaide player during the Preliminary Final. This suspension was considered a major blow to the Magpies' chances. Brisbane's had numerous key players under injury clouds, including captain Michael Voss with an injured knee, Nigel Lappin with broken ribs and both Alastair Lynch and Martin Pike with hamstring injuries.
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