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 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 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. The build-up was further magnified due to the Lions' chance of being the first team since Melbourne in the 1950s to win three successive premierships. Collingwood had achieved this feat, winning four successive premierships from 1927-30. Attention was also focussed on whether the Magpies would avenge their close loss to the Lions in the previous year's grand final. In the week leading up to the grand final, Collingwood's Nathan Buckley was awarded the Brownlow Medal, which was tied between Buckley, Sydney's Adam Goodes and Adelaide's Mark Ricciuto. The match attendance of 79,451 spectators was the smallest grand Final attendance at the MCG since the 1946 VFL Grand Final, owing to the construction of new seating at the ground for the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
Match summary
The Lions dominated the Magpies and led throughout the match, leading 5.5 to the Magpies' 3.3 at quarter time. They stretched their lead in the second quarter, leading 11.7 to 4.7 at half time. Collingwood fought back early in the third quarter, kicking the first two goals after the main break, but could not maintain their intensity and still had a long lead ahead of them at the last break, trailing 9.7 to Brisbane's 14.12. The Magpies were at risk of being absolutely humiliated as the Lions piled on six goals during the last quarter, but Collingwood saved face by scoring three late goals, reducing the margin to 50 points. Final scores: Brisbane 20.14 defeated Collingwood 12.12. Simon Black of the Lions was awarded the Norm Smith Medal for being judged the best player afield. Jason Akermanis kicked 5 goals for Brisbane. With this win, Brisbane became AFL premiers for the third consecutive year, the fourth club and fifth team in VFL/AFL history to do so and earned a place as one of the greatest teams of the modern era. Hawthorn would be the next club to win three flags in a row. Brisbane would go on to contest a fourth consecutive grand final in the 2004 AFL Grand Final, but would lose that game to Port Adelaide.
