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>Click here to watch Alan Toovey speak to CTV in the rooms after the drawTHE 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 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.
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.
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: Nil
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.
