WHILE the Magpies were overcome with emotion following their first premiership in 20 years, Luke Ball's first instinct on Saturday was to console ex-teammate Lenny Hayes.
The former St Kilda captain, who left the club at the end of 2009 following a bitter contract dispute, was decidedly muted as the final siren sounded and headed straight for Hayes, his opponent on the day.
"I just said to Lenny, 'I love you, mate, I feel for you'. There's nothing I could say," Ball said after his game-shaping performance on last week's Norm Smith Medallist.
Ball said his reaction after the siren and on the dais when accepting his premiership medal was partly his personality and also out of respect for the teammates he lost last year's grand final alongside.
"It was a little bit of that (respect) and I don't think it would have looked good, to be honest," he said.
"The fact that it was last year as well, and it's happened in such a short period of time.
"I've got great respect for them, from their coach down the whole playing list. [This year] was more about just trying to restart a career.
"I can't thank Mick (Malthouse) and the Collingwood footy club enough for giving me that opportunity and it's just amazing how it's turned out."
Ball, who was recruited by the Magpies with pick 30 at last year's NAB AFL Draft, had 25 possessions and seven clearances on Saturday, keeping Hayes to 10 possessions and zero clearances in the first half when the game was alive.
"He's so good at most areas [and] he's also got an incredible will," Ball said of Hayes.
"Even if you keep him quiet for 10 minutes, he's shown over so many years that he's got an amazing ability to impose himself on the game. He still did that today.
"It wasn't just me, it was a team effort on all of their good players."
Malthouse said Ball had spent the week leading up to the first grand final worrying about the potential result, rather than focusing on his own role.
He was subsequently beaten by Hayes in that game, but his response in the replay pleased Malthouse.
"As I said to him Monday or Tuesday, we didn't recruit Chris Judd, we didn't recruit Gary Ablett, we recruited Luke Ball to play like Luke Ball," Malthouse said.
"I think he overloaded himself with expectation, and he overloaded himself that it was a Collingwood-St Kilda grand final.
"Once he was able to play and focus in on the role only - nothing else but the role to play - then he had the result that we thought he could have."
