2009 AFL Grand Final
Encyclopedia
The 2009 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football
game contested between the St Kilda Football Club and the Geelong Football Club
at the Melbourne Cricket Ground
on 26 September 2009. It was the 113th annual Grand Final
of the Victorian Football League/Australian Football League
, staged to determine the premiers for the 2009 AFL season
.
The match, attended by 99,251 spectators, was won by Geelong by a margin of 12 points, marking that club's eighth premiership victory. It is remembered as one of the great Grand Finals'
in recent memory, due to how close and physical the game was and the sheer brilliance of individual efforts from some of the game's superstars.
after having lost its preliminary final in 2008 against eventual premiers . The Saints' home-and-away season was outstanding and they won their first 19 games (the longest winning streak in the club's history) before losing consecutive close games in Rounds 20 and 21 against and . They won their final game and earned the McClelland Trophy
for the first time since 1997. Their record of 20-2 is the equal-third most wins of all time, behind the 2008
Cats
and the 2000 Bombers
. They accounted for fourth-placed by 28 points in their qualifying final and won a hard-fought and low scoring preliminary final against the Western Bulldogs
by seven points to earn their place in the Grand Final.
Geelong entered the 2009 season after two consecutive minor premierships and two consecutive grand final appearances: a victory against Port Adelaide
in the 2007 AFL Grand Final
and a loss against Hawthorn in the 2008 AFL Grand Final
. They won their four pre-season games to win the NAB Cup and their first 13 home-and-away games. Their first loss came in Round 14 against St Kilda (who at that stage were also undefeated) by six points, with Michael Gardiner
kicking the winning goal in the dying minutes for the Saints. Following that loss the Cats entered a form slump, caused in part by several key injuries; their eight games from Rounds 14 to 21 yielded four wins and four losses, but only one of those wins (a 46-point victory against eventual wooden spooners ) was by a margin greater than one goal. Geelong won their final game comfortably to finish with a record of 18-4. They defeated a fast-finishing Bulldogs team by 14 points in their qualifying final and then comfortably beat Collingwood by 73 points in their preliminary final to advance to the Grand Final.
In the week leading up to the Grand Final, Geelong's Gary Ablett
was awarded the Brownlow Medal
.
This Grand Final appearance was the sixteenth in Geelong's history and the third in succession, with the club attempting to win its eighth premiership and second in three years. It was sixth Grand Final appearance in St Kilda's history and the first since the 1997 Grand Final
, with the club attempting to win its second premiership. Its only flag to date was won 43 years earlier in the 1966 Grand Final
.
This was the first time that St Kilda and Geelong had met in a Grand Final. In spite of their respective ladder positions, Geelong entered the game as the favourite team to win amongst most bookmaker
s.
It was also the first Grand Final to be played since the death of cartoonist William Ellis Green
(better known as WEG), who had been drawing victory posters after VFL/AFL Grand Finals since 1954. The posters had been sold after each Grand Final with the proceeds going to the Royal Children's Hospital. Beginning in 2009, the posters were drawn by cartoonist Mark Knight
of the Herald Sun
.
from Australian rock band Hunters and Collectors performed "Holy Grail
" on stage, followed by Jimmy Barnes
singing "No Second Prize". John Farnham
then sang "You're the Voice
", joined later by Seymour and Barnes. The premiership cup was brought onto the field twice: once by captains and administrators from football clubs affected by the 2009 Victorian bushfires, then later via zip-line by Adelaide Crows champion Mark Ricciuto
. The Qantas choir performed "I Still Call Australia Home
", and the national anthem was performed a cappella
by the cast of Jersey Boys
.
holding the ball
. St Kilda then gained the ascendancy in the middle part of the quarter, asserting an advantage in the midfield (partly through the influence of Lenny Hayes
who tallied 11 touches and a goal in the first term) and stopping Geelong's rebound. St Kilda failed to convert on the scoreboard due to inaccurate kicking: despite entering the forward 50-metres arc on 14 occasions to Geelong's two during a sustained period of midfield dominance, they scored only 3.2 (20), with Andrew McQualter
, Adam Schneider
and Stephen Milne
all missing easy shots at goal. Joel Selwood
scored a late goal to bring the margin back to less than a goal at quarter time.
after a Zac Dawson
turnover in the goal-square, which television replays confirmed hit the post. However, the Saints scored three goals in the final two minutes of the quarter to take a six-point lead into half time: Clinton Jones
roved a pack to snap a goal from the pocket with about ninety seconds remaining; Justin Koschitzke
got his boot to a broken marking contest in the goal square to score a goal with only twelve seconds left; and an angry Darren Milburn
, believing (incorrectly, according to replays) that he had touched Koschitzke's kick off the boot, gave away an additional free kick on the goal-line for abusing the goal umpire. This free kick gifted Schneider an easy goal with just five seconds remaining in the half.
goaled seven minutes into the quarter, while Saints' captain Nick Riewoldt
answered with a goal from a close set shot only two minutes later. After a goal to Paul Chapman in the nineteenth minute, the scores were tied at 58 apiece, and remained tied for more than ten minutes. The deadlock was broken by the Saints' Leigh Montagna
, who goaled with less than ninety seconds left in the quarter from a Steven King hit-out from a boundary throw-in in the Saints' forward pocket. St Kilda entered the three quarter time break with a seven point lead.
At the 24 minute mark of the final quarter, with less than five minutes of play remaining, Geelong's Steve Johnson had the ball in defense and kicked the ball towards Ablett, who had found space in the midfield. St Kilda's Zac Dawson
had left his opponent Cameron Mooney
and run a considerable distance from his own defense
and managed to spoil the kick, and the ball fell to Scarlett, who had also run a long way from his own defensive area. Scarlett, with his right foot, kicked the ball out of midair to Ablett, who had continued to run forward. Ablett then kicked the ball long to Geelong's goal square, where several players contested for the ball. After receiving the ball from teammate Shannon Byrnes
, Geelong forward Travis Varcoe
managed to handball
to Chapman, who kicked a left-foot goal past St Kilda's Jason Blake
's outstretched hands.
Had Dawson's spoil not gone directly to Scarlett, St Kilda would have been able to gain possession and go forward into attack themselves. After the game, Matthew Scarlett stated that his toe poke was a lucky kick.
A subsequent behind to Rooke in the 27th minute put the Cats seven points ahead, and a rushed behind to the Saints in the 29th minute brought the margin back to one goal. Kicking in from the behind, the Cats went to a contest 50m from goal where a strong mark was taken by Harry Taylor
. From there, the Cats were in the process of moving the ball forward when the final siren sounded. An after-the-siren goal from Rooke extended the margin to twelve points. Most crucially, St Kilda was held goalless during the final quarter.
St Kilda became the first team to lose a Grand Final from a three-quarter time lead since Hawthorn
in 1984
. Geelong became the first team to ever win a Grand Final after losing the first three quarters.
for his three goals and 26 possessions, despite sustaining a slight hamstring injury in the first quarter. Chapman received nine of a possible fifteen votes to win the medal. St Kilda's Jason Gram
finished second for the medal, also polling nine votes, but losing to Chapman on a countback (Chapman received three votes from three of the five judges, while Gram received three votes from only one judge). Geelong's Taylor (who received three votes from the fifth judge) finished third, while Rooke, Gary Ablett, Jr.
, Jimmy Bartel
, Milburn and Joel Corey
also polled votes.
, Jones, Montagna, Steven Baker and Brendon Goddard
; Goddard continued playing with a broken nose and a fractured collarbone, sustained in separate incidents during the game.
It was an extremely close game throughout: twelve points was the greatest margin at any stage of the game (Geelong's lead late in the second quarter, and the final margin). There was a very high number of tackles laid during the game, although it should be noted that wet conditions are always conducive to high tackle counts: St Kilda's 118 tackles is the highest on record for any team in any game, the combined total of 214 tackles is the second highest on record, and Bartel's 16 tackles represented the equal-highest personal tally on record.
In general play, St Kilda throughout the first half earned 31 inside-50s to Geelong's 15, and was consistently able to stop Geelong's rebound through the middle. However, as noted above, they did waste many of their inside-50s by missing relatively easy shots on goal and were unable to defend the fewer entries by Geelong. In the second half, general play was much more even but Geelong had the better of the inside-50s and clearances, and were better able to break through St Kilda's rebound defense. This attribute ultimately accounted for Geelong's triumph. Geelong also became the first side since in 2000 to win both the pre-season premiership and the regular season premiership in the same season.
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
game contested between the St Kilda Football Club and the Geelong Football Club
Geelong Football Club
The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed The Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club, named after and based in the city of Geelong, playing in the Australian Football League . The club has been the VFL/AFL premiers nine times, with a record equalling 3 in the AFL era. Geelong has also...
at the Melbourne Cricket Ground
Melbourne Cricket Ground
The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light...
on 26 September 2009. It was the 113th annual Grand Final
AFL Grand Final
The AFL Grand Final is an annual Australian rules football match, traditionally held on the final Saturday in September at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia to determine the Australian Football League premiership champions for that year...
of the Victorian Football League/Australian Football League
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
, staged to determine the premiers for the 2009 AFL season
2009 AFL season
-Round 1 :-Round 2:-Round 3 :-Round 4:-Round 5 :-Round 6:-Round 7:-Round 8:-Round 9 :-Round 10:...
.
The match, attended by 99,251 spectators, was won by Geelong by a margin of 12 points, marking that club's eighth premiership victory. It is remembered as one of the great Grand Finals'
AFL Grand Final
The AFL Grand Final is an annual Australian rules football match, traditionally held on the final Saturday in September at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia to determine the Australian Football League premiership champions for that year...
in recent memory, due to how close and physical the game was and the sheer brilliance of individual efforts from some of the game's superstars.
Background
St Kilda entered the 2009 premiership season2009 AFL season
-Round 1 :-Round 2:-Round 3 :-Round 4:-Round 5 :-Round 6:-Round 7:-Round 8:-Round 9 :-Round 10:...
after having lost its preliminary final in 2008 against eventual premiers . The Saints' home-and-away season was outstanding and they won their first 19 games (the longest winning streak in the club's history) before losing consecutive close games in Rounds 20 and 21 against and . They won their final game and earned the McClelland Trophy
McClelland Trophy
The McClelland Trophy is an Australian rules football trophy, currently awarded to the minor premiers in the Australian Football League each year...
for the first time since 1997. Their record of 20-2 is the equal-third most wins of all time, behind the 2008
2008 AFL season
-Round 1 :-Round 2:-Round 3 :-Round 4:-Round 5:-Round 6 :-Round 7:-AFL Hall of Fame Tribute Match:-Round 8:...
Cats
Geelong Football Club
The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed The Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club, named after and based in the city of Geelong, playing in the Australian Football League . The club has been the VFL/AFL premiers nine times, with a record equalling 3 in the AFL era. Geelong has also...
and the 2000 Bombers
Essendon Football Club
The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
. They accounted for fourth-placed by 28 points in their qualifying final and won a hard-fought and low scoring preliminary final against the Western Bulldogs
Western Bulldogs
The Western Bulldogs are an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based at the Whitten Oval in West Footscray, an inner-western suburb of Melbourne...
by seven points to earn their place in the Grand Final.
Geelong entered the 2009 season after two consecutive minor premierships and two consecutive grand final appearances: a victory against Port Adelaide
Port Adelaide Football Club
The Port Adelaide Football Club is an Australian rules football club based in Alberton, South Australia, which plays in the Australian Football League and the South Australian National Football League...
in the 2007 AFL Grand Final
2007 AFL Grand Final
The 2007 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Geelong Football Club and the Port Adelaide Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 29 September 2007. It was the 111th annual Grand Final of the VFL/AFL, staged to determine the...
and a loss against Hawthorn in the 2008 AFL Grand Final
2008 AFL Grand Final
The 2008 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football match contested between the Geelong Football Club and the Hawthorn Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on the 27th of September 2008...
. They won their four pre-season games to win the NAB Cup and their first 13 home-and-away games. Their first loss came in Round 14 against St Kilda (who at that stage were also undefeated) by six points, with Michael Gardiner
Michael Gardiner
Michael S. Gardiner is a former Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League. He played for the West Coast Eagles from 1997–2006 and the St Kilda Football Club from 2007–2011.- Early life :...
kicking the winning goal in the dying minutes for the Saints. Following that loss the Cats entered a form slump, caused in part by several key injuries; their eight games from Rounds 14 to 21 yielded four wins and four losses, but only one of those wins (a 46-point victory against eventual wooden spooners ) was by a margin greater than one goal. Geelong won their final game comfortably to finish with a record of 18-4. They defeated a fast-finishing Bulldogs team by 14 points in their qualifying final and then comfortably beat Collingwood by 73 points in their preliminary final to advance to the Grand Final.
In the week leading up to the Grand Final, Geelong's Gary Ablett
Gary Ablett, Jr.
Gary Ablett, Jr. is a professional Australian rules football player and current captain of the Gold Coast Football Club in the Australian Football League ....
was awarded the Brownlow Medal
Brownlow Medal
The Chas Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal , is awarded to the "fairest and best" player in the Australian Football League during the regular season as determined by votes cast by the officiating field umpires after each game...
.
This Grand Final appearance was the sixteenth in Geelong's history and the third in succession, with the club attempting to win its eighth premiership and second in three years. It was sixth Grand Final appearance in St Kilda's history and the first since the 1997 Grand Final
1997 AFL Grand Final
-Match details:-References:...
, with the club attempting to win its second premiership. Its only flag to date was won 43 years earlier in the 1966 Grand Final
1966 VFL Grand Final
The 1966 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Collingwood Football Club and St Kilda Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 24 September 1966. It was the 70th annual grand final of the Victorian Football League , staged to...
.
This was the first time that St Kilda and Geelong had met in a Grand Final. In spite of their respective ladder positions, Geelong entered the game as the favourite team to win amongst most bookmaker
Bookmaker
A bookmaker, or bookie, is an organization or a person that takes bets on sporting and other events at agreed upon odds.- Range of events :...
s.
It was also the first Grand Final to be played since the death of cartoonist William Ellis Green
William Ellis Green
William Ellis Green, OAM, who signed his cartoons WEG, was an Australian editorial cartoonist and illustrator who drew the Australian Football League premiers posters from 1954 until his death.-Early life:...
(better known as WEG), who had been drawing victory posters after VFL/AFL Grand Finals since 1954. The posters had been sold after each Grand Final with the proceeds going to the Royal Children's Hospital. Beginning in 2009, the posters were drawn by cartoonist Mark Knight
Mark Knight (cartoonist)
Mark Knight is the editorial cartoonist for the Herald Sun, a daily tabloid in Melbourne, Australia.He created Leuk the Duck, short for Leukemia, a mascot for Challenge, a cancer foundation to provide a visual impetus for kids with cancer...
of the Herald Sun
Herald Sun
The Herald Sun is a morning tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia. It is published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Limited, itself a subsidiary of News Corporation. It is available for purchase throughout Melbourne, Regional Victoria, Tasmania, the Australian Capital...
.
Pre-match entertainment
Mark SeymourMark Seymour
Mark Seymour is an Australian musician and vocalist best known for his work as the frontman and songwriter of rock band Hunters & Collectors...
from Australian rock band Hunters and Collectors performed "Holy Grail
Holy Grail (song)
Holy Grail is a song performed by the Australian band Hunters & Collectors on their 1992 album Cut. With lyrics referring to popular Holy Grail mythology, the song is an anthemic single inspired by Napoleon's march to Russia in 1812, but also referencing the Hunters and Collectors' flagging...
" on stage, followed by Jimmy Barnes
Jimmy Barnes
James Dixon Swan , better known as Jimmy Barnes, is a Scottish-born Australian rock singer-songwriter. His father Jim Swan was a prizefighter and his older brother John Swan is also a rock singer. It was actually John who had encouraged and taught Jim how to sing as he wasn't really interested at...
singing "No Second Prize". John Farnham
John Farnham
John Peter Farnham, AO, formerly billed as Johnny Farnham , is an English-born Australian pop singer. He was a teen pop idol from 1964 to 1979, and has since forged a career as an adult contemporary singer. His career has mostly been as a solo artist although he briefly replaced Glenn Shorrock as...
then sang "You're the Voice
You're the Voice
As a lead promotion for their first live album Rock the House Live! in 1991, US rock band Heart released their live version of "You're the Voice" as a single. It was captured during the US leg of their Brigade world tour in November 1990...
", joined later by Seymour and Barnes. The premiership cup was brought onto the field twice: once by captains and administrators from football clubs affected by the 2009 Victorian bushfires, then later via zip-line by Adelaide Crows champion Mark Ricciuto
Mark Ricciuto
Mark Anthony Ricciuto is a former Australian rules football player, who played for the Adelaide Crows in the Australian Football League...
. The Qantas choir performed "I Still Call Australia Home
I Still Call Australia Home
"I Still Call Australia Home" is a song written and performed by Peter Allen in 1980. In it, Allen sings of Australian expatriates' longing for home.It has been used to suggest Australian patriotism and nostalgia for home...
", and the national anthem was performed a cappella
A cappella
A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
by the cast of Jersey Boys
Jersey Boys
Jersey Boys is a jukebox musical with music by Bob Gaudio, lyrics by Bob Crewe and book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice. It is a documentary-style musical, based on one of the most successful 1960s rock 'n roll groups, the Four Seasons...
.
Match summary
The Grand Final was played in cold and wet conditions. It had rained heavily the previous night in Melbourne such that the ground was particularly wet around the boundary, and there were also several heavy showers during the game. The highest ambient temperature for the game was only 11.3 °C, the coldest on record for a Grand Final.First quarter
Geelong started strongly, earning a two-goal advantage after eight minutes, with Max Rooke scoring the opening goal of the game after catching an unaware Raphael ClarkeRaphael Clarke
Raphael Clarke is an Australian rules footballer for the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League . He is the brother of Brisbane utility Xavier Clarke, who was also a St Kilda player from 2002 until 2009....
holding the ball
Holding the ball
Holding the ball is a law in Australian Rules Football. It is necessary to prevent players from slowing down play. Instead of the umpire having to bounce the ball , it allows the defence a way to take possession directly from the attacking team.-Main Interpretation:The most basic description of...
. St Kilda then gained the ascendancy in the middle part of the quarter, asserting an advantage in the midfield (partly through the influence of Lenny Hayes
Lenny Hayes
Lenny Hayes is a professional Australian rules footballer playing with St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League.Hayes is a former captain of St Kilda and continues to be an onfield leader in the Saints' midfield....
who tallied 11 touches and a goal in the first term) and stopping Geelong's rebound. St Kilda failed to convert on the scoreboard due to inaccurate kicking: despite entering the forward 50-metres arc on 14 occasions to Geelong's two during a sustained period of midfield dominance, they scored only 3.2 (20), with Andrew McQualter
Andrew McQualter
Andrew McQualter is an Australian rules footballer who played 89 games for the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League .-Overview:...
, Adam Schneider
Adam Schneider
Adam Schneider is an Australian rules footballer playing for the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League...
and Stephen Milne
Stephen Milne
Stephen Milne is a professional footballer for the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League .-AFL career:...
all missing easy shots at goal. Joel Selwood
Joel Selwood
Joel Anthony Selwood is an Australian rules footballer for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League...
scored a late goal to bring the margin back to less than a goal at quarter time.
Second quarter
St Kilda opened the second quarter better, but again missed relatively easy shots at goal from Schneider and Milne. In the middle stages of the quarter, Geelong kicked to a two-goal lead with four consecutive goals, including two goals in just over a minute; the first of these two was a controversial goal scored by Tom HawkinsTom Hawkins (footballer)
Thomas "Tom" Jack Hawkins is an Australian rules footballer for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League...
after a Zac Dawson
Zac Dawson
Zac Dawson is an Australian rules footballer who has played for the Hawthorn and St Kilda Football Clubs in the Australian Football League .-AFL career:- Hawthorn :...
turnover in the goal-square, which television replays confirmed hit the post. However, the Saints scored three goals in the final two minutes of the quarter to take a six-point lead into half time: Clinton Jones
Clinton Jones (footballer)
Clinton Jones is an Australian rules footballer for the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League .-AFL career:...
roved a pack to snap a goal from the pocket with about ninety seconds remaining; Justin Koschitzke
Justin Koschitzke
Justin Gregory Koschitzke is an Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League.-Career overview:Recruited in the 2000 AFL Draft at pick number two, there were high expectations on Koschitzke from a young age...
got his boot to a broken marking contest in the goal square to score a goal with only twelve seconds left; and an angry Darren Milburn
Darren Milburn
Darren Milburn , is an AFL assistant Coach for the Adelaide Crows and a retired Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League...
, believing (incorrectly, according to replays) that he had touched Koschitzke's kick off the boot, gave away an additional free kick on the goal-line for abusing the goal umpire. This free kick gifted Schneider an easy goal with just five seconds remaining in the half.
Third quarter
The third quarter was an even and lower-scoring contest. There were many stoppages, much congestion and very little opportunity for scoring by either side. Geelong's Cameron MooneyCameron Mooney
Cameron Mooney was an Australian rules footballer who played with the North Melbourne and Geelong Football Clubs in the Australian Football League...
goaled seven minutes into the quarter, while Saints' captain Nick Riewoldt
Nick Riewoldt
Nick Riewoldt is an Australian rules footballer who is the current captain of the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League . He was the first draft selection in the 2000 AFL Draft.-Early life:...
answered with a goal from a close set shot only two minutes later. After a goal to Paul Chapman in the nineteenth minute, the scores were tied at 58 apiece, and remained tied for more than ten minutes. The deadlock was broken by the Saints' Leigh Montagna
Leigh Montagna
Leigh Montagna is an Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League. Montagna was recruited as the number 37 draft pick in the 2001 AFL Draft. He is a midfielder with St Kilda Football Club.-AFL career:...
, who goaled with less than ninety seconds left in the quarter from a Steven King hit-out from a boundary throw-in in the Saints' forward pocket. St Kilda entered the three quarter time break with a seven point lead.
Fourth quarter
Geelong scored a goal through Hawkins in the second minute of the final quarter to bring the margin back to a single point. The 21 minutes that followed would yield only five behinds: the first two to St Kilda, and the next three to Geelong, tying the scores at 67 apiece.At the 24 minute mark of the final quarter, with less than five minutes of play remaining, Geelong's Steve Johnson had the ball in defense and kicked the ball towards Ablett, who had found space in the midfield. St Kilda's Zac Dawson
Zac Dawson
Zac Dawson is an Australian rules footballer who has played for the Hawthorn and St Kilda Football Clubs in the Australian Football League .-AFL career:- Hawthorn :...
had left his opponent Cameron Mooney
Cameron Mooney
Cameron Mooney was an Australian rules footballer who played with the North Melbourne and Geelong Football Clubs in the Australian Football League...
and run a considerable distance from his own defense
and managed to spoil the kick, and the ball fell to Scarlett, who had also run a long way from his own defensive area. Scarlett, with his right foot, kicked the ball out of midair to Ablett, who had continued to run forward. Ablett then kicked the ball long to Geelong's goal square, where several players contested for the ball. After receiving the ball from teammate Shannon Byrnes
Shannon Byrnes
Shannon Byrnes is an Australian rules footballer for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League .-Career:...
, Geelong forward Travis Varcoe
Travis Varcoe
Travis Varcoe is an Australian rules footballer for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League .-Career:Varcoe debuted in the SANFL for the Central District Bulldogs in 2005, at the age of 17...
managed to handball
Handball (Australian rules football)
Handball is a term in the sport of Australian rules football which describes a method of disposing of possession of the football by hand. It is the most frequently used alternative to kicking the ball...
to Chapman, who kicked a left-foot goal past St Kilda's Jason Blake
Jason Blake (footballer)
Jason Blake is an Australian rules footballer for the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League . He holds the record for most games played without accruing a single Brownlow Medal vote.-AFL career:Blake was recruited as the number 24 draft pick in the 1999 AFL Draft from the...
's outstretched hands.
Had Dawson's spoil not gone directly to Scarlett, St Kilda would have been able to gain possession and go forward into attack themselves. After the game, Matthew Scarlett stated that his toe poke was a lucky kick.
A subsequent behind to Rooke in the 27th minute put the Cats seven points ahead, and a rushed behind to the Saints in the 29th minute brought the margin back to one goal. Kicking in from the behind, the Cats went to a contest 50m from goal where a strong mark was taken by Harry Taylor
Harry Taylor (Australian rules footballer)
Harry Taylor III is an Australian rules footballer for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League .-Early life:...
. From there, the Cats were in the process of moving the ball forward when the final siren sounded. An after-the-siren goal from Rooke extended the margin to twelve points. Most crucially, St Kilda was held goalless during the final quarter.
St Kilda became the first team to lose a Grand Final from a three-quarter time lead since Hawthorn
Hawthorn Football Club
The Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League . The club, founded in 1902, is the youngest of the Victorian-based teams in the AFL. The team play in Brown & Gold vertically striped guernseys...
in 1984
1984 VFL Grand Final
The 1984 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Essendon Football Club and Hawthorn Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 29 September 1984. It was the 88th annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League, staged to determine...
. Geelong became the first team to ever win a Grand Final after losing the first three quarters.
Norm Smith Medal
Paul Chapman was awarded the Norm Smith MedalNorm Smith Medal
The Norm Smith Medal is the award given in the AFL Grand Final to the player adjudged by an independent panel of experts to have been the best player in the match.-History:The Norm Smith Medal is named after former Melbourne player and coach, Norm Smith...
for his three goals and 26 possessions, despite sustaining a slight hamstring injury in the first quarter. Chapman received nine of a possible fifteen votes to win the medal. St Kilda's Jason Gram
Jason Gram
Jason Gram is an Australian rules footballer for the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League .-AFL career:...
finished second for the medal, also polling nine votes, but losing to Chapman on a countback (Chapman received three votes from three of the five judges, while Gram received three votes from only one judge). Geelong's Taylor (who received three votes from the fifth judge) finished third, while Rooke, Gary Ablett, Jr.
Gary Ablett, Jr.
Gary Ablett, Jr. is a professional Australian rules football player and current captain of the Gold Coast Football Club in the Australian Football League ....
, Jimmy Bartel
Jimmy Bartel
James 'Jimmy' Bartel is an Australian rules footballer for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League . A midfielder at and , Bartel is a Brownlow Medallist, two-time All-Australian, and was part of the Cats' AFL premiership-winning teams in 2007, 2009 and 2011, being named the...
, Milburn and Joel Corey
Joel Corey
Joel Corey is an Australian rules footballer for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League . A midfielder, tall and weighing , Corey is able to contribute inside or outside while on the ball....
also polled votes.
General summary
Chapman, Rooke, Milburn, Ablett, Bartel and Taylor were all excellent for Geelong. Taylor, in particular, was lauded for restricting dangerous Saints forward Riewoldt to just one goal. Contributing strongly for the Saints were Hayes, Gram, Luke BallLuke Ball
Luke Patrick Ball is a professional Australian rules football player currently playing for in the Australian Football League....
, Jones, Montagna, Steven Baker and Brendon Goddard
Brendon Goddard
Brendon James Goddard is an Australian rules footballer for the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League...
; Goddard continued playing with a broken nose and a fractured collarbone, sustained in separate incidents during the game.
It was an extremely close game throughout: twelve points was the greatest margin at any stage of the game (Geelong's lead late in the second quarter, and the final margin). There was a very high number of tackles laid during the game, although it should be noted that wet conditions are always conducive to high tackle counts: St Kilda's 118 tackles is the highest on record for any team in any game, the combined total of 214 tackles is the second highest on record, and Bartel's 16 tackles represented the equal-highest personal tally on record.
In general play, St Kilda throughout the first half earned 31 inside-50s to Geelong's 15, and was consistently able to stop Geelong's rebound through the middle. However, as noted above, they did waste many of their inside-50s by missing relatively easy shots on goal and were unable to defend the fewer entries by Geelong. In the second half, general play was much more even but Geelong had the better of the inside-50s and clearances, and were better able to break through St Kilda's rebound defense. This attribute ultimately accounted for Geelong's triumph. Geelong also became the first side since in 2000 to win both the pre-season premiership and the regular season premiership in the same season.
Scorecard
Teams
List
| 68 – 80 | ||
| (9.14) | (12.8) |
EWLINE
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EWLINE
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