2010 AFL Grand Final
| 2010 AFL Grand Final | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Home Team | Collingwood |
| Away Team | St Kilda |
| Date | 25 September 2010 |
| Rematch | 2 October 2010 |
| Stadium | MCG |
| City | Melbourne |
| TV in Australia | |
| Network | Seven Network |
| Announcers | Bruce McAvaney and Dennis Cometti |
| < 2009 • AFL Grand Final • 2011 > | |
The 2010 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the St Kilda Football Club and Collingwood Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 25 September 2010. It was the 114th annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League/Australian Football League,[1] staged to determine the premiers for the 2010 AFL season.
The game was attended by 100,016 spectators, the highest crowd for a VFL/AFL game since the 1986 VFL Grand Final. The match ended in a draw, with both teams scoring 68 points. This is the third draw in a VFL/AFL Grand Final, the previous two occurring in 1948 and 1977. The premiership will be decided by a full replay match the following Saturday 2 October 2010. If the replay ends in a draw after full time, extra time will be played to settle the premiership.[2]
Lead-up
Collingwood entered the 2010 season after having lost its preliminary final in 2009 against eventual premiers Geelong. Collingwood was the best performed side of the home-and-away season, finishing with a record of 17-4-1 and winning its first Minor Premiership since 1977 and its first McClelland Trophy since 1970[3]. Collingwood progressed to the Grand Final after comfortable victories in the qualifying final against the Western Bulldogs by 62 points, and then against Geelong in the preliminary final by 41 points.
St Kilda entered the season after having won the 2009 minor premiership with the club's best ever home-and-away record of 20-2, but losing the Grand Final to Geelong by two goals. After winning the first four games of the season, the Saints hit a form slump coinciding with a serious hamstring injury to captain Nick Riewoldt. They would recover to win seven games in a row before Riewoldt's return, and finished third on the ladder with a record of 15-6-1. They overcame a heavily-favoured Geelong team by four points in their qualifying final, and had a comfortable 24 point win over the Western Bulldogs in the preliminary final to advance to the Grand Final.
It is the first Grand Final between two Melbourne-based sides since the 2000 Grand Final.[4]
Collingwood and St Kilda met twice during the 2010 home-and-away season, with each team winning one of the games. In Round 3 at Etihad Stadium, the Saints beat an inaccurate Collingwood by the score 10.9 (69) d. 4.17 (41), in the game which saw Riewoldt get injured; in Round 16 at the MCG, Collingwood was a comfortable winner over St Kilda by the score 15.10 (100) d. 6.16 (52). The teams also met in the first round of the preseason competition, St Kilda winning that contest by one point.
They were a good side at the beginning (of the year) but they've just got stronger than ever...They're the best Collingwood team since the 1920s and 1930s.
— Ron Barassi, AFL Hall of Fame member and AFL Legend[5]
Collingwood was the strong favourite to win, with major bookmakers offering around $1.40 to $1.45 for a Collingwood victory at the start of the game.[6]
The first final marked the 41st time Collingwood has contested the VFL/AFL Grand Final,[7] and the first time since the club lost back-to-back Grand Finals in 2002 and 2003. The club was attempting to win its fifteenth VFL/AFL premiership, and its first since 1990. It was St Kilda's seventh Grand Final appearance[8], and its second in a row after the loss in 2009. St Kilda was attempting to win its second premiership, the only previous premiership coming in 1966[9].
The first final was the second Grand Final contest played between these two clubs. The only previous encounter was that 1966 Grand Final in which St Kilda won its only premiership, winning by a single point 10.14 (74) d. 10.13 (73). They had met in a total of nine finals, of which St Kilda has won six, including the last five in a row, dating back to the 1966 Grand Final[10].
Between them, Collingwood and St Kilda fielded three players who had previously won a premiership: Darren Jolly (Collingwood), Adam Schneider and Sean Dempster (both St Kilda) — all three played in Sydney's 2005 premiership[11].
Pre-match entertainment
Prior to the match, entertainment was provided by INXS, who performed Suicide Blonde, New Sensation and Kick. This was followed by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, who performed orchestral arrangements of the Collingwood theme song and the St Kilda theme song. Lyrics for the two songs were from Michael Paynter (for Collingwood) and Paris Wells (for St Kilda).
Game one, 25 September 2010
The match was played under dry conditions. Rain was forecast towards the end of the match, but it did not arrive.
First quarter
Collingwood scored the first goal only twenty-two seconds into the game, winning the first clearance and eventually getting the ball to Darren Jolly to score from 5m out. Stephen Milne scored St Kilda's opening goal in the 8th minute. Collingwood then scored three goals in six minutes, to Blair, Didak and Thomas, to open up a twenty point lead. After the 17th minute, St Kilda was able to hold Collingwood scoreless, with goals to Riewoldt and Schneider bringing the margin back to six points at quarter time.
Generally, Collingwood had the better of the play early in the first quarter, attacking primarily through rebounds and turnovers. St Kilda won the clearances 12-6 throughout the quarter, and it was through that clearance work that St Kilda was able to build their late quarter recovery. Lenny Hayes was instrumental in St Kilda's clearance work, acting as third-man-up in the ruck contests and collecting ten disposals. All of the key statistics (contested possessions, inside-50s, tackles) except for clearances were fairly even through the quarter.
Second quarter
Collingwood dominated the second quarter. They won the clearances 16-6, and won the inside-50s 21-5, giving St Kilda almost no opportunity to score. Overall, Collingwood managed ten shots at goal, but took many from long distance, which affected their overall accuracy: their total score for the quarter was 3.6 (24) with one out on the full. Goals were scored by Cloke in the 3rd minute, Macaffer in the 18th minute from a holding the ball free kick against Eddy and 50-metre penalty against Ray, and O'Brien in the 26th minute; of their remaining shots, three fell short and were touched or rushed for behinds, while Cloke missed two relatively easy shots – one from a 25m set shot directly in front and one from a snap shot 30m out – in the final two minutes of the quarter. So dominant was Collingwood in the second quarter that St Kilda managed only two shots on goal, both set shots from outside 50m: one goal to Koschitzke in the 12th minute, and one from Peake in the 21st minute which fell short and was rebounded.
Collingwood entered half time with a 24 point lead. Swan was instrumental at stoppages in the second quarter, and Thomas and Maxwell were both crucial at forcing rebounds.
Third quarter
St Kilda began to win clearances again, and after both teams mustered rushed behinds, Riewoldt scored the first goal of the quarter in the 5th minute from a coast to coast play. Midway through the quarter, Gardiner left the field injured, leaving St Kilda (who had omitted back-up ruckman Ben McEvoy for the game) without a recognised ruckman. Collingwood had long-range shots at goal by Cloke and Dawes fall short and rushed for behinds in the middle stages of the quarter, but could not score a goal. The Saints kicked two goals in five minutes through Goddard and Gilbert to close the gap to seven points in the 22nd minute. Thomas had a good chance to score a goal late in the quarter, but missed with a wild snap shot under little pressure. Collingwood took an eight point lead into three-quarter time.
After Collingwood's complete dominance of the second quarter, the third quarter was much more closely contested. The teams were even in both clearances and contested disposals, and both managed six shots on goal. In St Kilda's case, their six shots yielded 3.3 (21), while in Collingwood's case, they yielded only 0.5 (5) – including one hit-the-post, two fell short and touched for behinds, and one fell short and marked for no score. Hayes and Goddard were again prominent at the clearances, with both men playing at various times as the third-man-up in the ruck contests. Part-time ruckman Blake assumed much of the ruck responsibility following Gardiner's injury.
Final quarter
The final quarter was again a close contest. Both teams had several inside-50s early in the quarter, but all were rebounded without score, with Maxwell and Goddard both prominent for their respective teams. The first score of the quarter was not until the 9th minute, with Davis crumbing a goal from a stoppage, extending the margin to 14 points. In the 12th minute, Eddy hit the post from a long tight set shot won after catching O'Brien holding the ball; the Saints then scored goals through Hayes in the 14th minute, and Milne in the 15th minute off the ensuing centre break to bring the margin back to one point. In the 19th minute, Riewoldt had a 45m snap shot at the goals from a stoppage which was bouncing towards the goals, but was touched on the line by a diving Maxwell, levelling the scores at 61 apiece. Then, in the 20th minute, Goddard scored a goal from 20m out, directly in front, after taking a big specky over O'Brien. This gave St Kilda its first lead of the game, after Collingwood had been leading since the opening goal, 22 seconds into the game.
In the 22nd minute, Cloke received a holding-the-man free kick in a marking contest 50m out on a wide angle, but the kick again fell short and was rushed for a behind. In the 26th minute, Maxwell created a turnover with a specky at centre half back, with the rebound resulting in a spilt pack mark in the goal square by Shaw, and a crumbed goal to Cloke from 5m, putting Collingwood back in front by a point. Collingwood unsuccessfully attacked twice in the following two minutes from turnovers: a 50m set shot from Dawes which fell short and was punched out of bounds, and a 50m snap shot from Sidebottom which fell short and was marked and rebounded. The rebound from that mark ended with Hayes taking a long shot towards Milne from 60m, but the kick eluded Milne and bounced through the a behind, tying the game a 68 apiece in the 30th minute. In the final minute of the game, St Kilda had the ball in its forward line, and after fifteen seconds of scrambling around 15-25m from goal, Collingwood cleared to the boundary line on the wing. Time elapsed, and the game finished drawn.
Norm Smith Medal
Lenny Hayes won the Norm Smith Medal for the drawn final comfortably, with 13 of a possible 15 votes, named best on ground by four of the five voters[12]. Hayes had 32 disposals, 12 tackles, 5 clearances, and 5 inside-50s[13] Brendon Goddard was second with 7 votes, Dale Thomas was third with 6 votes. Sam Fisher and Nick Maxwell were the only other vote-getters[12].
Grand Final sprint
The final of the Grand Final sprint was held at half-time of the first final. It was won by Luke Miles from St Kilda Football Club, with Tim Golds from Greater Western Sydney and Lewis Jetta from Sydney Swans finishing second and third respectively.
Overall
Most of the game statistics were fairly even across the game. Total disposals were won by St Kilda 338-326, contested possessions were won by Collingwood 153-148, and tackles were won by St Kilda 100-89. The two most lopsided statistics were: clearances, which St Kilda won 46-38, despite having ten fewer than Collingwood in the second quarter, and; inside-50s, which Collingwood dominated 62-35[13].
Altogether, seven of Collingwood's fourteen behinds were recorded as rushed, mostly from shots at goal which fell short and were touched or punched through.
The official crowd of 100,016 was the highest since the 1986 VFL Grand Final, exceeding the crowd of the 2008 AFL Grand Final by only four people.
Aftermath
The draw immediately sparked debate about the practice of a staging full-length replay instead of playing extra time. After the game, the two captains, Nick Maxwell of Collingwood and Nick Riewoldt of St Kilda, both stated that they would have preferred an extra time period; Maxwell was particularly scathing of the arrangement, labelling it an "absolute joke" in an interview immediately after the final siren[14]. But the full replay was not without its supporters, with Collingwood coach Michael Malthouse pledging his support to the traditional arrangement in his post-match press conference[15].
Scorecard
| Grand Final | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday, September 25 2:30pm | Collingwood | drew with | St Kilda | MCG (crowd: 100,016) | Report |
| 4.2 (26) 7.8 (50) 7.13 (55) 9.14 (68) |
Q1 Q2 Q3 Final |
3.2 (20) 4.2 (26) 7.5 (47) 10.8 (68) |
Umpires: Chamberlain, Rosebury, Ryan Norm Smith Medal: Lenny Hayes Television broadcast: Seven / 7mate National anthem: Cameron Henderson | ||
| Cloke 2 Jolly, Blair, Didak, Thomas, Macaffer, O'Brien, Davis |
Goals | Riewoldt, Milne, Goddard 2 Schneider, Koschitzke, Gilbert, Hayes | |||
| Shaw, Thomas, Swan, N Brown, Nick Maxwell, Pendlebury | Best | Hayes, Goddard, Fisher, Gilbert, Gwilt, Schneider | |||
| Prestigiacomo (groin), replaced in the side by N Brown | Injuries | Gardiner (hamstring) | |||
Game two, 2 October 2010
Scorecard
| Grand Final Replay | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday, October 2 2:30pm | Collingwood | v | St Kilda | MCG | |
| Q1 Q2 Q3 Final |
Norm Smith Medal: Television broadcast: Seven / 7mate | ||||
Teams
When named on Thursday night before the first final, Collingwood made two changes to their preliminary final team, bring in Leon Davis and Simon Prestigiacomo and omitting Tyson Goldsack and Nathan Brown. St Kilda recalled Steven Baker who had not played since Round 13, due to a 9-game suspension, omitting Ben McEvoy[16]. However, prior to the first final, Brown replaced Prestigiacomo in the final team[17].
| B: | 5 Nick Maxwell (c) | 16 Nathan Brown | 34 Alan Toovey |
| HB: | 8 Harry O'Brien | 20 Ben Reid | 39 Heath Shaw |
| C: | 22 Steele Sidebottom | 36 Dane Swan | 26 Ben Johnson |
| HF: | 4 Alan Didak | 32 Travis Cloke | 12 Luke Ball |
| F: | 17 Dayne Beams | 31 Chris Dawes | 15 Leigh Brown |
| Foll: | 18 Darren Jolly | 10 Scott Pendlebury | 13 Dale Thomas |
| Int: | 47 Jarryd Blair | 30 Brent Macaffer | 1 Leon Davis |
| 21 Sharrod Wellingham | |||
| Coach: | Mick Malthouse[18] | ||
| B: | 1 Jason Gram | 6 Zac Dawson | 19 Sam Gilbert |
| HB: | 27 Jason Blake | 25 Sam Fisher | 40 Robert Eddy |
| C: | 18 Brendon Goddard | 26 Nick Dal Santo | 22 Farren Ray |
| HF: | 30 Brett Peake | 23 Justin Koschitzke | 11 Leigh Montagna |
| F: | 13Adam Schneider | 12 Nick Riewoldt (c) | 44 Stephen Milne |
| Foll: | 15 Michael Gardiner | 7 Lenny Hayes | 4 Clinton Jones |
| Int: | 24 Sean Dempster | 32 Andrew McQualter | 33 James Gwilt |
| 10 Steven Baker | |||
| Coach: | Ross Lyon | ||
See also
References
- ^ In 1897 and 1924 there were no Grand Finals and instead the premier was decided by a finals play-off. In 1948 and 1977 there were Grand Final replays after initial draws.
- ^ Herald Sun "AFL announces extra time for Grand Final replay", retrieved September 25 2010
- ^ "Magpies secure top spot". AFl.com.au. 25 August 2010. Retrieved 22 September 2010.
- ^ The Geelong Football Club, who played the previous three Grand Finals is based in regional Victoria, not in Melbourne.
- ^ Buckle, Greg (23/9/10). "Best Magpies side in 70 years: Barassi". The Sydney Morning Herald.
{{cite web}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); Check date values in:|date=(help); Missing or empty|url=(help) - ^ Odds from TAB, Centrebet, Sportsbet, All Retrieved 25th September 2010, 2:10pm AEST.
- ^ Summary of Collingwood's results in Grand Finals, includes the 1977 Grand Final Replay, played after the 1977 Grand Final was drawn.
- ^ 0 Summary of St Kilda's results in Grand Finals
- ^ St Kilda faces hot Collingwood Magpies in 2010 AFL Grand Final
- ^ The games in the sequence were the 1966 Grand Final, 1972 First Semi-Final, 1992 Second Elimination Final, 2008 First Semi-Final and 2009 First Qualifying Final.
- ^ St Kilda's Gram sore but he'll play
- ^ a b Crossley, L. Lenny Hayes wins Norm Smith Medal, September 25th 2010, Retrieved September 25th 2010. The voting panel consisted of Brad Scott (chairman), Matthew Lloyd, Chris Grant, Michael Gleeson and Stephen Rielly.
- ^ a b Herald Sun Grand Final, Retrieved 25th September 2010
- ^ Schmook, N., 'It's an absolute joke': Maxwell slams replay, Retrieved 26th September 2010
- ^ Matthews, B., Malthouse has no time for extra time, Retrieved 26th September 2010.
- ^ McEvoy 'devastated' by AFL team omission
- ^ Presti out for Brown, Saints no change
- ^ "ABC Sport - Malthouse and Lyon mulling next moves". ABC Online. 24 September 2010. Retrieved 25 September 2010.