What the banners said
St Kilda

St Kilda 2009 – Truly Magical

Geelong
Congratulations Gary Ablett
There at the first and here for the latest

(On the back)
Our Ultimate Goal

Omen(s)
Nick Riewoldt kicking at goal in the warm-up and missing with a couple of Stephen Kernahan-type floaters, then hitting the post with another from close range.
Worst coin toss ever, won by Geelong's Tom Harley.

Hero
Max Rooke. It was an awesome game from an unheralded medium forward who just does his job week in, week out. Set the tone early with his terrific chase-down of Raphael Clarke in the second minute and then kicked a goal from resulting free kick. Kicked the last of the game as well, but more importantly, was instrumental in two of Norm Smith medallist Paul Chapman's three goals with great shepherding.

Goat
Stephen Milne, for his atrocious acting after taking a mark in the first term. He was lightly contacted on the torso a step after taking it, but went to ground as if shot, clutching his face. He's lucky they don't penalise players for diving. Then, early in the second, running in to goal from 60m with zero pressure on him from Cats defenders, he bounced the ball and lost it, got it back, and tried to dribble it through from 40m, and the Cats easily took it away. A minute later, he missed after a mark 25m out. Then a further minute later he gave away a 50m penalty. He finished with two behinds.

By the numbers
1 – the number of hamstrings West Coast's Nic Naitanui appeared to ping in the heats of the grand final sprint
79 - the number of minutes before the start of the game that Geelong ran out for its warm-up
19 – the number of speaker stacks out on the ground for the pre-match entertainment (three speakers in each stack)
4 – number of Jersey Boys to knock out a killer a-capella version of the national anthem
0 – the number of disposals Geelong that Steve Johnson had at half time. (He finished with just nine)
2 – number of "deliberate out of bounds" frees paid
14 – number of behinds kicked by St Kilda, when they only kicked nine goals. Bad kicking is bad football
214 – combined tackles for the game. (52 in the last quarter)

The decision
Right on the half time siren, Saint Justin Koschitzche kicked a goal off the ground in the square, but the Saints were immediately paid a free kick against Milburn, apparently for giving an umpire a serve. Adam Schneider goaled and the Saints took a six-point lead into the long break.

Lost in commentary
"Then Milne had one where he tried to dribble it home from 40 – it was the dumbest kick I've ever seen, anytime, anywhere" – former Carlton captain Mark Maclure, ABC radio, half time.

The moment they'll replay
Matthew Scarlett's brilliantly controlled toe-poke to Gary Ablett in the middle with less than five minutes remaining. Ablett sent it forward, and Chapman snapped a miracle goal to break the deadlock and put the Cats a goal up.

Harry Taylor's mark – much as Swan Leo Barry did in the dying seconds of the 2005 grand final, Taylor soared to take a mark that stopped the opposition's last surge forward. Taylor had a terrific game, but that's the event that will be burned into Cats' fans memories.

The moments they should replay
Late in the second term Zac Dawson went to clear the ball across goal, but Tom Hawkins smothered it, gathered the spill and then snapped a goal. The only problem was that the ball appeared to hit the post, but it was paid as a major anyway.

The Saints' Steven Baker, for a full-length diving spoil with 10 minutes to go. With the Saints up by a point, the ball was kicked towards goal by Max Rooke, but Baker ran as fast as his exhausted legs would let him, and he just touched it as he smashed into the goalpost.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.