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Important SN update for SouthlandLynch v Wakelin: Former Port defender recalls 2004 GF punch-on
SEN • June 29th, 2025 4:45 pm
The 2004 Grand Final is remembered for Port Adelaide’s first and only AFL premiership to date, but perhaps the most famous moment of the game wasn’t any kick, mark or tackle.
Instead, it’s, without doubt, the extraordinary punch-on between Brisbane’s Alastair Lynch and Port Adelaide’s Darryl Wakelin as the full forward began throwing haymakers at the Port defender in what turned out to be his last AFL game.
After Lynch sent him some words of warning at the first bounce, Wakelin recalled when he thought things could be ‘on’ with 4:25 left in the first quarter as the Power led 22-14.
“I think he obviously had it in his mind that it was his last game, but he’s only told people close to him,” Wakelin told This is Your Journey – thanks to Tobin Brothers.
“I do remember walking down and he was sort of in front of me before the second siren and I remember him turning around to me and saying a few words along the lines of, ‘Don’t try anything today or I’ll have a crack’.
“So, I thought something would happen at some stage, we’d had a few run-ins in previous years. But that was just a full-back v full-forward scenario with push and shove. We also had been reported for striking each other a couple of years earlier, so there was some history there.
“He went into that Grand Final healthy, but he pulled up short with a lead and I thought, ‘Beauty, we’ve got him, he’s done something here’, and he did a quad. You could just see him tense up and he was really disappointed.
“Then it just happened with Jason Akermanis and Shaun Burgoyne with a bit of push and shove and I said ‘Boys, sort it out’.
“Then Lynchy came over, grabbed me by the throat and said, ‘What are you going to do about it, hero?’. Then it was on.
“Usually, they throw a couple (of punches) and it stops… but this just kept going and I thought I just need to get hold of his head, give him a couple and hold on.
“I tried to stay out of his way (of his fists), and luckily I did.”
Wakelin had the last laugh that day as the Power won by 40 and the injured Lynch went statless. Lynch had previously kicked 8 overall goals in Brisbane’s three-straight premierships from 2001 to 2003.
Lynch copped a 10-week ban and a $15,000 fine for his part in the fight. The former Lion still considers the fight the most regrettable moment of his career.
Listen to Wakelin chat about the fight and much more on this week’s episode.
