2004 AFL season

AFL Draft

See 2004 AFL draft.

Wizard Home Loans Cup

Main article: 2004 Wizard Home Loans Cup

The Wizard Home Loans Cup final saw St Kilda defeat Geelong 1.14.5 (98) to 1.10.7 (76) in front of a crowd of 50,533.

Premiership season

Round 1

Round 1 (season launch)

Round 2

Round 3

Round 3 (Easter)

Round 4

Round 5

Round 5 (ANZAC Day)

Round 6

• Three games in this round were decided by one point.

Round 7

Round 7 (Mother's Day)

Round 8

Round 9

• St Kilda's 101-point win against West Coast was their largest against the Eagles.

Round 10

Round 11

• 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. 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.
• 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 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.

Round 12

Round 12 (Queen's Birthday)

Round 13

Round 13 (Split Round)

• Geelong's win over the Brisbane Lions was their first ever over the merger club and the first over a Brisbane side since round 14, 1995.
• Adelaide coach Gary Ayres resigned as coach after the win over the , with Neil Craig taking over as caretaker for the remainder of the season. Craig would become the head coach from next year.

Round 14

Round 15

Round 16

Round 17

• The ' 141-point win over was their biggest ever win, and Adelaide's biggest ever defeat.
• 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 . 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.

Round 18

Round 18 (Heritage Round)

Round 19

• The came from 40 points down at three-quarter time against to win by 6 points in Glenn Archer’s 250th game.

Round 20

Round 21

Round 22

• The Brisbane Lions' 113-point win was their biggest over the Kangaroos.
• Port Adelaide finished the home and away season on top of the ladder for the third consecutive season.

Ladder

Ladder progression

Finals series

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Week one

• St Kilda played in its first finals series since 1998.
• Port Adelaide won in week one of the finals for the first time ever.
• West Coast were eliminated in the first week of the finals for the third consecutive year.
• As of 2025, this is Essendon’s most recent finals victory.

Week two

• Essendon were eliminated in the second week of the finals for the third consecutive year.

Week three

• won through to its first ever AFL Grand Final.
• played its "home" final at the MCG despite being ranked above 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.

Week four

Main article: 2004 AFL Grand Final

• This was the first grand final in the history of the AFL to be played by two non-Victorian teams; 's first; and the ' 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.

Attendances during the season were affected by the ongoing reconstruction of the Ponsford, Olympic and Melbourne Cricket Club stands at the MCG to be ready for the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

Awards

• The Brownlow Medal was awarded to Chris Judd of West Coast.
• The Leigh Matthews Trophy was awarded to Nick Riewoldt of St Kilda.
• The Coleman Medal was awarded to Fraser Gehrig of St Kilda.
• The Norm Smith Medal was awarded to Byron Pickett of Port Adelaide.
• The AFL Rising Star award was awarded to Jared Rivers of Melbourne.
• The Wooden Spoon was "awarded" to Richmond for coming last.

Coleman

Notable events

• 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. 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.
• In round 13, defeated the 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 , 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.
• During the round 19 match between and the , Sydney head trainer Wally Jackson suffered a fatal heart attack during the last quarter. 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, clinched its third consecutive minor premiership, a feat achieved by only two other clubs in the previous 50 seasons ( 1955–60; 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.
• Essendon’s victory over Melbourne in the first week of the finals remains, as of the end of 2025, its most recent finals victory.

Notes

References

• 2004 Season – AFL Tables

References

1. Hinds, Richard. (9 June 2004). "Bombers, Hawks to face 27 charges".
2. Brereton, Dermott. (25 September 2008). "Dermott Brereton recalls the 'line in the sand' game".
3. Pentony, Luke. (6 June 2004). "Swans upset Saints in masterful display". ABC News ([[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]]).
4. "Gary Ayres opinions way too late". The Advertiser.
5. Jessica Halloran. (9 August 2004). "Swans mourn loss of their father figure". The Sydney Morning Herald.
6. (15 August 2014). "Fairer finals clause comes back to bite AFL". Fairfax Media.