2003 AFL premiership season
Teams16
PremiersBrisbane
3rd premiership
Minor premiersPort Adelaide
2nd minor premiership
Pre-season cupAdelaide
1st pre-season cup win
Brownlow MedallistNathan Buckley (Collingwood)
Adam Goodes (Sydney)
Mark Ricciuto (Adelaide)
Coleman MedallistMatthew Lloyd (Essendon)
Attendance
Matches played185
Total attendance6,351,655 (34,333 per match)
Highest79,451 (Grand Final, Brisbane Lions vs. Collingwood)

The 2003 AFL season was the 107th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level of senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured sixteen clubs, ran from 28 March until 27 September, and comprised a 22-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top eight clubs.

The premiership was won by the Brisbane Lions for the third time and third time consecutively, after it defeated Collingwood by 50 points in the AFL Grand Final.

AFL Draft

See 2003 AFL Draft.

Wizard Home Loans Cup

The 2003 Wizard Home Loans Cup saw Adelaide defeat Collingwood 15.14 (104) to 10.13 (73) in the final.

Premiership season

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

  • The Kangaroos-Tigers game was especially notable as the comeback of Kangaroos player Jason McCartney from life-threatening burns suffered in the 2002 Bali bombings. McCartney retired immediately after the match.

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

Round 15

Round 16

Round 17

Round 18

Round 19

Mathew Lloyd would kick 11 goals to surpass Simon Madden as the Essendon Football Club's greatest ever goal scorer.

Round 20

Round 21

The Sydney vs. Collingwood game is notable as it is the highest attended Australian rules football match ever played outside of Victoria.

Round 22

Ladder

2003 AFL ladder
Pos Team Pld W L D PF PA PP Pts
1 Port Adelaide 22 18 4 0 2229 1752 127.2 72 Finals series
2 Collingwood 22 15 7 0 2259 1858 121.6 60
3 Brisbane Lions (P) 22 14 7 1 2295 1882 121.9 57
4 Sydney 22 14 8 0 2142 1862 115.0 56
5 Fremantle 22 14 8 0 2143 2078 103.1 56
6 Adelaide 22 13 9 0 2114 1754 120.5 52
7 West Coast 22 12 8 2 2326 1982 117.4 50
8 Essendon 22 13 9 0 2190 1960 111.7 52
9 Hawthorn 22 12 10 0 2011 1999 100.6 48
10 Kangaroos 22 11 10 1 2185 2223 98.3 45
11 St Kilda 22 11 11 0 2095 2187 95.8 44
12 Geelong 22 7 14 1 1819 2025 89.8 29
13 Richmond 22 7 15 0 1846 2078 88.8 28
14 Melbourne 22 5 17 0 1899 2344 81.0 20
15 Carlton 22 4 18 0 1784 2674 66.7 16
16 Western Bulldogs 22 3 18 1 2014 2693 74.8 13
Source: AFL ladder
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for.
(P) Premiers

This marks the first time that Fremantle played a finals match and the first, and only time to date that all non-Victorian teams played in a finals series.

Ladder progression

  Numbers highlighted in green indicate that the team finished the round inside the top 8.
  Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the team finished first on the ladder in that round.
  Numbers highlighted in red indicates the team finished in last place on the ladder in that round.
Team ╲ Round12345678910111213141516171819202122
Port Adelaide0048121616202428323640404448525660646872
Collingwood481212121216162024242428323640444848525660
Brisbane Lions481014182222263034343438384242424650505458
Sydney444481216202024283232364044484848525256
Fremantle044881216202428283232363640404448525256
Adelaide44812121616162024242832364040444852525252
West Coast4488121620242828303438384242464646485252
Essendon0448121212161620202024282832364044485252
Hawthorn044881212121212162024282832323236404448
North Melbourne481010101014141822263030343434383838384246
St Kilda044481216161620242424242428283236404444
Geelong0004444488121212162020202024262630
Richmond04812161620242424242424242424282828282828
Melbourne44888812121212121216202020202020202020
Carlton0044888121212121616161616161616161616
Western Bulldogs44444444446666610101414141414
Source:

Finals series

Qualifying and elimination finalsSemi-finalsPreliminary finalsGrand Final
7 Sep, AAMI Stadium
1Port Adelaide13.10 (88)
4Sydney15.10 (100)13 Sep, AAMI Stadium
Port Adelaide12.11 (83)
5 Sep, Subiaco OvalEssendon6.8 (44)20 Sep, Telstra Stadium
5Fremantle8.9 (57)Sydney8.8 (56)
8Essendon15.11 (101)Brisbane Lions14.16 (100)27 Sep, MCG
Brisbane Lions20.14 (134)
6 Sep, AAMI Stadium20 Sep, MCGCollingwood12.12 (84)
6Adelaide16.17 (113)Collingwood17.10 (112)
7West Coast8.9 (57)12 Sep, The GabbaPort Adelaide9.14 (68)
Brisbane Lions18.16 (124)
6 Sep, MCGAdelaide12.10 (82)
2Collingwood9.12 (66)
3Brisbane Lions7.9 (51)

Week one

Qualifying Finals
7 September (2:30 pm) Port Adelaide 13.10 (88) def. by Sydney 15.10 (100) AAMI Stadium (crowd: 33,968)
6 September (7:30 pm) Collingwood 9.12 (66) def. Brisbane Lions 7.9 (51) MCG (crowd: 66,092)
Elimination Finals
5 September (6:40 pm) Fremantle 8.9 (57) def. by Essendon 15.11 (101) Subiaco Oval (crowd: 42,770)
6 September (2:30 pm) Adelaide 16.17 (113) def. West Coast 8.9 (57) AAMI Stadium (crowd: 38,641)
  • Fremantle played in its first ever final, losing to Essendon by 44 points.

Week two

Semi-finals
12 September (7:30 pm) Brisbane Lions 18.16 (124) def. Adelaide 12.10 (82) The Gabba (crowd: 32,432)
13 September (7:30 pm) Port Adelaide 12.11 (83) def. Essendon 6.8 (44) AAMI Stadium (crowd: 36,557)
  • No game was played at the MCG this week, despite 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. Neither match was considered a viable option to be moved, as one match featured two non-Victorian teams (Brisbane and Adelaide), and the other match featured a first-placed non-Victorian side (Port Adelaide) versus an eighth-placed Victorian side (Essendon).

Week three

Preliminary Finals
20 September (2:30 pm) Collingwood 17.10 (112) def. Port Adelaide 9.14 (68) MCG (crowd: 77,405)
20 September (7:30 pm) Sydney 8.8 (56) def. by Brisbane Lions 14.16 (100) Telstra Stadium (crowd: 71,019)
  • The attendance of 71,019 for the final between Sydney and Brisbane is the largest attendance ever for an AFL game not featuring a Victorian team played outside Victoria.
  • As of 2023, this remains the last time two finals matches were played on the same day after the first week.

Week four

Grand Final
27 September (2:40 pm) Brisbane Lions 20.14 (134) def. Collingwood 12.12 (84) MCG (crowd: 79,451) Report
  • The Brisbane Lions victory was the clubs third successive premiership and were the fourth team to achieve three or more premierships in a row.

Match attendance

Total match attendance for all games was 5,872,352 people. Attendance at the grand final was 79,451 people. The largest non-finals attendance was 72,393 people for the Sydney vs Collingwood game in round 21.

Awards

Notable events

  • Western Bulldogs captain Chris Grant suffered a season-ending knee injury in his side's round one win over Geelong. His absence in the team was severely felt as the Bulldogs ended up finishing last on the AFL ladder.[1][2]
  • Essendon Forward Matthew Lloyd would kick 11 goals in his sides 67 point win over the Western Bulldogs to surpass Simon Madden as the recorder holder for most goals kicked by an Essendon player in the club's history.

References

  1. ↑ Whiting, Michael (11 April 2016). "Dogs can learn from history on Murphy injury". Australian Football League. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  2. ↑ Pierik, Jon (11 April 2016). "AFL 2016: 'I felt the pop,' says Bob Murphy". Redland City Bulletin. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
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