# 2003 VFL season

The 2003 Victorian Football League season was the 122nd season of the Australian rules football competition.
The premiership was won by the Williamstown Football Club, after defeating Box Hill by 29 points in the Grand Final on 21 September.

## League membership and affiliations

There were several changes to the VFL–AFL reserves affiliations prior to the 2003 season:
* Sydney, which had been partially affiliated with Port Melbourne, withdrew from having any connection with the VFL, instead electing to field a stand-alone reserves team in the AFL Canberra competition. Sydney broke off the affiliation with one year left on the contract, prompting a lawsuit from Port Melbourne.
* The Kangaroos, after spending the previous three years using the Murray Kangaroos as its VFL-affiliate, became affiliated with Port Melbourne. The Murray Kangaroos club, which had been a joint venture operation between the Kangaroos and the Ovens & Murray Football League, dropped out of the VFL and folded.
* Carlton, which had been fielding its reserves team in the VFL, became affiliated with the Northern Bullants. The Carlton reserves withdrew from the VFL.
* Essendon, which had been fielding its reserves team in the VFL, became affiliated with Bendigo. Under the affiliation, Bendigo adopted Essendon's black and red guernsey, and changed its nickname from Diggers to Bombers. The Essendon reserves withdrew from the VFL.
As a result of the changes, the VFL was reduced from sixteen teams to thirteen. Geelong was now the only one of the ten Victorian AFL clubs left fielding its own reserves team in the VFL, with nine clubs in VFL-AFL affiliations.

## Ladder

2003 VFL season :
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | D | PF | PA | PP | Pts | |
| 1 | Port Melbourne | 18 | 14 | 3 | 1 | 1918 | 1439 | 133.3 | 58 | Finals |
| 2 | Williamstown (P) | 18 | 14 | 4 | 0 | 1856 | 1284 | 144.5 | 56 | Finals |
| 3 | Box Hill | 18 | 14 | 4 | 0 | 1789 | 1389 | 128.8 | 56 | Finals |
| 4 | Sandringham | 18 | 10 | 8 | 0 | 1623 | 1553 | 104.5 | 40 | Finals |
| 5 | Tasmania | 18 | 8 | 9 | 1 | 1708 | 1582 | 108.0 | 34 | Finals |
| 6 | Springvale | 18 | 8 | 9 | 1 | 1783 | 1702 | 104.8 | 34 | Finals |
| 7 | Werribee | 18 | 8 | 10 | 0 | 1656 | 1668 | 99.3 | 32 | Finals |
| 8 | Geelong reserves | 18 | 8 | 10 | 0 | 1623 | 1763 | 92.1 | 32 | Finals |
| 9 | Frankston | 18 | 8 | 10 | 0 | 1285 | 1420 | 90.5 | 32 | |
| 10 | Bendigo | 18 | 7 | 10 | 1 | 1519 | 1791 | 84.8 | 30 | |
| 11 | Northern Bullants | 18 | 6 | 12 | 0 | 1763 | 1824 | 96.7 | 24 | |
| 12 | Coburg | 18 | 6 | 12 | 0 | 1408 | 1896 | 74.3 | 24 | |
| 13 | North Ballarat | 18 | 4 | 14 | 0 | 1249 | 1869 | 66.8 | 16 | |

### Finals Series

| Qualifying and elimination finals | Qualifying and elimination finals | Qualifying and elimination finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Preliminary finals | Preliminary finals | Preliminary finals | Grand final | Grand final | Grand final |
| August 30, North Port Oval | August 30, North Port Oval | August 30, North Port Oval | | | | | | | | | |
| 1 | Port Melbourne | 14.18 (102) | | | | | | | | | |
| 4 | Sandringham | 18.13 (121) | September 7, Bellerive Oval | September 7, Bellerive Oval | September 7, Bellerive Oval | | | | |
| | | | Tasmania | Tasmania | 14.21 (105) | | | | |
| August 30, Bellerive Oval | August 30, Bellerive Oval | August 30, Bellerive Oval | Port Melbourne | Port Melbourne | 17.14 (116) | September 13, North Port Oval | September 13, North Port Oval | September 13, North Port Oval | | | |
| 5 | Tasmania | 18.10 (118) | | | | Sandringham | Sandringham | 9.9 (63) | |
| 8 | Geelong | 16.7 (103) | | | | Box Hill | Box Hill | 14.14 (98) | September 21, Optus Oval | September 21, Optus Oval | September 21, Optus Oval |
| | | | | | | | | | Box Hill | Box Hill | 9.9 (63) |
| August 31, North Port Oval | August 31, North Port Oval | August 31, North Port Oval | | | | September 14, North Port Oval | September 14, North Port Oval | September 14, North Port Oval | Williamstown | Williamstown | 13.14 (92) |
| 6 | Springvale | 6.8 (44) | | | | Williamstown | Williamstown | 17.11 (113) | | |
| 7 | Werribee | 21.18 (144) | September 6, North Port Oval | September 6, North Port Oval | September 6, North Port Oval | Port Melbourne | Port Melbourne | 15.16 (106) | | |
| | | | Box Hill | Box Hill | 12.12 (84) | | | | | | |
| August 30, Box Hill City Oval | August 30, Box Hill City Oval | August 30, Box Hill City Oval | Werribee | Werribee | 12.11 (83) | | | | | |
| 2 | Williamstown | 16.14 (110) | | | | | | | | | |
| 3 | Box Hill | 8.(13 61) | | | | | | | | |

### Grand Final

| | 2003 VFL Grand Final | 2003 VFL Grand Final | 2003 VFL Grand Final | | |
| Sunday 21 September (2:00 pm) | Box Hill | def. by | Williamstown | Optus Oval (crowd: 10,500) | |
| | 1.1 (7) 2.4 (16) 8.6 (54) 9.9 (63) | Q1 Q2 Q3 Final | 6.5 (41) 9.9 (63) 12.9 (81) 13.14 (92) | Norm Goss Memorial Medal: Adrian Fletcher (Williamstown) | Norm Goss Memorial Medal: Adrian Fletcher (Williamstown) |
| Bayford 2, Kenna 2, Ball, Campbell, Harford, Johnson, Marguccio | Bayford 2, Kenna 2, Ball, Campbell, Harford, Johnson, Marguccio | Goals | Baldwin 4, Mahoney 2, Molloy 2, Cranage, McGouch, Smoker, Swan, Williams | Baldwin 4, Mahoney 2, Molloy 2, Cranage, McGouch, Smoker, Swan, Williams |
| M. Smith, for striking Maxwell in the fourth quarter | M. Smith, for striking Maxwell in the fourth quarter | Reports | | |

## Awards

* The Jim 'Frosty' Miller Medal was won for a record fifth consecutive year by Nick Sautner (Northern Bullants), who kicked 82 goals.
* The J. J. Liston Trophy was won by David Robbins (Sandringham), who polled 16 votes. It was Robbins' second Liston Trophy, having previously won the award in 2000. Robbins finished ahead of Stephen Jurica (North Ballarat), who finished second with 15 votes, and Jordan Doering (Tasmania) and Adrian Fletcher (Williamstown), who were equal third with 14 votes. Jeremy Clayton (Port Melbourne) polled the most votes with 20, but was ineligible to win the award due to suspension.
* The Fothergill–Round Medal was won by Aaron Davey (Port Melbourne).
* Williamstown won the reserves premiership. Williamstown 20.15 (135) defeated the Northern Bullants 12.11 (83) in the Grand Final, held as a curtain-raiser to the Seniors Grand Final on 21 September.

## Notable events

* The VFL granted a favourable fixture to the three stand-alone VFL clubs, Tasmania, North Ballarat and Frankston to try to assist them financially. The clubs were given extra home games (Tasmania had twelve home games for the year, and North Ballarat and Frankston had ten) and they were given extra Sunday matches to avoid clashes with the local competitions which were still mainly played on Saturdays.