03 GF the loss of Anthony Rocca hurt the whole game plan, tactical genius or not.Our 2002 team was under-rated and Malthouse was the past-master of advancing that interpretation. Of course by 2003 Matthews had Malthouse strategically absolutely nutted and the result speaks for itself.
It shows how brilliant Mick was to reinvent the 04 to 06 side and get a young Thomas and Pendlebury in to a final against the Dogs and then be a kick of making the GF the following season. Matthews was doing it tough by then, obviously had the chocolates in the bag but never reinvented another team like Mick who probably did it 3 times. 02,03 06,07 10,11.