THE 2010 AFL premiership remains undecided after Collingwood and St Kilda fought out only the third grand final draw in AFL/VFL history.

The sides will return next Saturday afternoon for a grand final replay after a behind to Lenny Hayes tied the scores 29 minutes into the final quarter in front of 100,016 fans at the MCG.

The siren blew with scores locked at 9.14 (68) to 10.8 (68).

The Magpies led until the 18-minute mark of the final term, but looked destined for disappointment when Brendon Goddard put the fast-finishing Saints in front after a towering mark and goal.

Travis Cloke restored the Pies’ lead with the last goal of the game with 3.25 left on the clock before the Saints scrambled a behind with 1.31 remaining.

The Pies will rue their wastefulness in front of goal after failing to capitalise on a 24-point lead early in the third quarter.

The Saints' chances took a hit when Michael Gardiner was knocked out of the match shortly before half time, making their strong finish all the more impressive.

Lenny Hayes was inspirational for St Kilda with 32 possessions and 12 tackles and was the rightful winner of the Norm Smith medal - awarded despite next week's replay.

Both sides acknowledged the importance of the opening minutes of the big occasion in the lead-up to the match and it was Collingwood that settled first.

Darren Jolly was the unlikely first goalkicker after just 22 seconds and, despite Stephen Milne’s reply, the Pies were quickly out to a 20-point lead with Dale Thomas and Scott Pendlebury prominent.

Sam Fisher’s early play was a rare highlight for the Saints who slowly began to work their way into the contest and in fact finished the first quarter well on top.

Nick Riewoldt learned from an earlier miss to goal from a similar set shot and when Adam Schneider snapped truly off a step, the margin was back to six points at quarter time.

Cloke settled his nerves with a clinical set shot early in the second term, which quickly developed into an arm wrestle as Ross Lyon tried to get the balance of his side right.

Justin Koschitzke goaled from long range to break the scoring drought 12 minutes in, but that would be his side’s only score for the term as the Pies got on top around the stoppages.

Collingwood went inside 21 times to the Saints' four for the period and it was only some wasteful kicking by the Pies that kept the contest alive. Even so, the Saints found themselves 24 points in arrears at the main break.

Sam Gilbert was moved forward to give Nick Maxwell something to think about after the restart and the tactic proved effective.

Riewoldt’s second gave his side belief and while Goddard and Gilbert goaled at one end, the confidence began seeping out of the Pies at the other with Jarryd Blair, Chris Dawes and Thomas missing badly.

The Magpies were punch drunk at the start of the final term, but still held an eight-point lead.

Leon Davis hadn’t seen much of the ball, but made a hero of himself when he snapped truly eight minutes in to extend the lead to 14 points.

Hayes and Milne goaled before Goddard put his side in front, but that proved to be merely the preamble to the nerve-wracking finale.

"Clearly we made a horrible mess, in the second quarter, of everything we did," St Kilda coach Ross Lyon said after the match.

"I thought our first quarter was very good and clearly our third and our fourth were pretty good, but I think what players will take away is that every little thing counts.

"We just hung on in the second, but I think that’s been our trademark with our ability to regroup and be mentally tough."

Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse was philosophical about the outcome, but was at least happy to come away unscathed.

The Pies have had a training group of 31 players to choose from over the finals series and that remains the case following Saturday’s bruising encounter.

While many onlookers will bemoan Collingwood’s inaccurate kicking for goal after the result, Malthouse laid the blame elsewhere.

"We’ve got to be better at using the ball into our forward line," he said.
 
"I wouldn’t have thought kicking for goal lost it; I would have thought option-taking into our forward line did."

Collingwood 4.2    7.8    7.13   9.14 (68)
St Kilda         3.2    4.2   7.5     10.8 (68)

GOALS
Collingwood: Cloke 2, Thomas, Didak, Jolly, O’Brien, Macaffer, Blair, Davis
St Kilda: Goddard 2, Riewoldt 2, Milne 2, Hayes, Schneider, Gilbert, Koschitzke

BEST
Collingwood: Shaw, Thomas, Swan, N Brown, Maxwell, Pendlebury
St Kilda: Hayes, Goddard, Fisher, Gilbert, Gwilt, Schneider

INJURIES
Collingwood: Prestigiacomo (adductor) replaced in selected side by N. Brown
St Kilda: Gardiner

Reports: Nil

Umpires: Chamberlain, Ryan, Rosebury

Official crowd: 100,016 at the MCG

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

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