Collingwood ruckman Darren Jolly said he did not hear what St Kilda forward Stephen Milne said during a heated exchange with Harry O'Brien in the third quarter of Saturday night's thriller at the MCG.

Jolly, 30, was on his knees trying desperately to catch his breath when an exchange between teammate O'Brien and Milne caught the umpire's ear.

Jolly had caught a knee to the ribs and said he was focused on recovering when the fiery saga between O'Brien and Milne lengthened by another chapter.

"I was winded. It's very underrated, getting winded. It's hard to get your breath back," Jolly said after the Pies prevailed in a pressure-filled final term by six points.

"I just saw the ball there and tried to dive on it and copped one in my ribs.

"I was too busy trying to get my breath back so I don't know what was said.

"I think they have a great rivalry, those two. I think every time we play St Kilda, he plays against him and it's just a great battle.

"It was just another one tonight."

Click here to watch the collision between Stephen Milne and Darren Jolly

O'Brien and Milne were locked in an intense battle for much of the night, which culminated when they took a starring role in the game's decisive play.

St Kilda forward Justin Koschitzke delivered the ball inside 50m with 20 seconds remaining with the Pies holding what would be the match-ending margin. 

O'Brien flew for the mark and dropped it, before the umpire paid a free kick for Milne chopping his arms. 

Click here to watch the free kick paid against Stephen Milne

"There was relief when the whistle blew. I wasn't sure how long there was to go," Jolly said.

"We were six points up, I didn't want a bloody draw.

"He had Milne's measure all night. We had confidence he was certainly going to make a contest, and he did."

Coach Nathan Buckley wouldn't be drawn on whether it was a free kick or not, only to say tongue in cheek it was a "great mark".

"He's a fierce competitor, H, and I think as a defender if you don't have that combative attitude, you're not going to be able to play the way we need to you play," Buckley said, about the O'Brien-Milne match up.

Jolly won't only be nursing sore ribs this week - he'll need to have the stitches he had sewn into the back of his head in the second quarter removed at some stage.

Teammate Ben Reid decided to attempt mark of the year using Jolly as a stepladder, and accidentally split the ruckman's head open.

Click here to watch the Ben Reid's hanger over Darren Jolly

Even so, Jolly returned from a week's rest in excellent form, with 37 hit-outs against Ben McEvoy, plus 10 marks and two goals.

"I don't want to admit it but it does take a little bit longer to recover, and certainly if I can be rested in games here and there to run the year out, especially going into finals, it certainly helps," he said.

"I felt really good tonight after the weekend off last weekend."

Jolly missed rounds six and seven this season with a sore achilles tendon, was absent from the round 10 clash with Gold Coast, and was one of four players who didn't face Greater Western Sydney last week because of soreness.

He's now set his sights on the finals and plans to run through until the end of September uninterrupted.

"I think that's it [now]. That was the plan - we'd take that last one off and that's it, I think," he said.

Jennifer Witham is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow her on Twitter @AFL_JenWitham.