Grand final day timetable:

11:45am - Gillette Grand Final Sprint heats
Noon - Presentation to TAC Cup premiership team
12:55pm - Delivery of match footballs to umpires
1:10pm - Warm-up opportunities for Grand Final teams
1:30pm - Welcome to country by Wurundjeri elder Joy Murphy Wandin
1:31pm - Team highlights on screen and on specially designed banners
1:35pm - Performance by INXS, presented by Carlton Draught
1:46pm - Cavalcade of retiring players, medallists and this year's AFL Hall of Fame Legend Kevin Murray
1:51pm - Performance of Grand Final teams' songs by Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
1:54pm - Arrival of the 2010 premiership cup
2:08pm - Qantas A380 flyover
2:15pm - Umpires enter the arena
2:16pm - St Kilda enter the arena
2:19pm - Collingwood enter the arena
2:27pm - National Anthem performed by Cam and Taylor Henderson
2:30pm - 2010 Toyota AFL Grand Final begins
3:40pm - Half-time, featuring Gillette AFL Grand Final Sprint and NAB AFL Auskick grid games
5:15pm (approx.) - Final siren. Norm Smith Medal for the best player presented by 1992 Norm Smith medallist Peter Matera. Premiership medallions presented by NAB AFL Auskick competitors. Jock McHale Medal for the winning coach presented by former Carlton and Hawthorn premiership coach David Parkin. Premiership cup presented to the winning captain and coach by a club legend (Collingwood – Peter McKenna; St Kilda – Kevin Neale).

Would I be right in sensing that you're probably finding it hard to focus on work this week, MA?


1:46pm - Cavalcade of retiring players, medallists and this year's AFL Hall of Fame Legend Kevin Murray


I really like how the AFL take care of their champions.


1:35pm - Performance by INXS, presented by Carlton Draught


... but not of their fans! Must have been a kick in the teeth when John Fucking Farnham strutted out to add considerable insult to the injury provided by Barnesy.

Vuvuzela Fitzgerald wrote:
Would I be right in sensing that you're probably finding it hard to focus on work this week, MA?

I’ve attempted to be calm and low key about this, VF, but it’s not working. My employer moved offices last month to Moorabbin and everywhere around here seems to be draped in flags, scarves and banners. People are even going to work with suits and scarves on. At least 3 city halls are displaying the St Kilda flag – St Kilda, Moorabbin and Frankston.

The teams have been announced and it’s a stunner by St Kilda.

Collingwood, despite thrashing Geelong, have brought in 2 experienced players, Prestigiacomo and Davis, for 2 youngsters, Brown and Goldsack. Presti is clearly in to play on Riewoldt but he’s been out of the team for a few weeks and is hopefully rusty.

St Kilda have recalled Steven Baker, who hasn’t played since he was given a 9 match suspension in round 13. Collingwood, with their dangerous small forwards, are ideal opponents for Baker but it’s a huge risk. What’s really surprising, though, is that giant second ruckman, Ben McEvoy, has been omitted after playing almost every game this season and both finals so far. He must be absolutely shattered.

Nick Riewoldt’s speech at today’s grand final parade was drowned out by booing, jeering, chanting Collingwood supporters. Now, as a lifelong fan of Scottish football, I’m hardly going to be shocked by such things but this unprecedented lack of respect has caused uproar here further boosting the massive neutral support for St Kilda tomorrow. It’s just unfortunate that, inside the stadium, we will be hugely outnumbered.

Well, the big day is here. The television coverage has been on for hours, the temperature is already higher than it peaked at last year and, incredibly, there are quite a few people inside the MCG (gates opened at 8am).

We'll be setting off in just over an hour and my stomach is already in knots.

Bring it back home, MA.

We're all Saints today.

See you on the other side, MA.

For all of us here: Live on ESPN Classic at 11:30PM, joined in progress on ESPN2 after RBNY-Galaxy.

Blimey.

The first drawn Grand Final since 1977!

St Kilda looked like they were struggling to keep up with Collingwood for three quarters of the match; then somehow managed to edge ahead in the final quarter... but Collingwood equalised with a couple of minutes to go and the final score was 68 points each- St Kilda kicked one more goal than the Magpies... perhaps this should have been used to decide the result. You could see why they can't play extra time... the players were absolutely knackered at the end.

St Kilda's Hayes was given the man of the match award- although I acutally thought Goddard was better.

Now there will be another big money-making day for the AFL next Saturday! The last drawn GF, 1977, was between North Melbourne and Collingwood. North Melbourne won the replay, so hope that is a good sign for St Kilda!

Hope MA didn't have a heart attack- it was an absolutely enthralling game...

B-B-BWWHHHAAATTT ???!!!

Cong****, MA (Half a congrats, I suppose.)

Only the third drawn grand final after 1948 and 1977.

I think I aged 10 years in the last 10 minutes as St Kilda went from 7 points behind, to 1 point behind, to level, to 6 points ahead, to 5 points ahead, to 1 point behind, to level again. For most of the last minute, the ball was in St Kilda’s forward 50 and I was desperately hoping somebody could knock it through for a point as it bobbled around the ground. That’s 2 St Kilda grand finals in a row with agonisingly close finishes.

It was a remarkable match. Collingwood started as they did against Geelong and threatened to kill the game off quickly but St Kilda recovered really well and were unlucky to be a goal down at quarter time.

The second quarter was all Collingwood but they missed 2 easy chances just before half time leaving the margin 24 points and giving me a slight glimmer of hope. In the last 2 grand finals, Geelong (2008) and St Kilda (2009) failed to capitalise on second quarter domination and lost.

In the third quarter, St Kilda kept them goalless and we went into that incredible final quarter just 8 points down. If the game had gone to extra time, I reckon St Kilda would have won – we had all the momentum in the second half despite being a man down after ruckman Michael Gardiner got injured.

I agree with Trimster that Goddard should have won the Norm Smith Medal but Hayes was also brilliant - 32 possessions, 11 of them contested, 12 tackles, 1 goal, 5 clearances and 5 inside 50s.

The AFL have confirmed there will be extra time next Saturday in the event of another draw and it looks like a lot more tickets will be available to club members. The crowd today was 100,016 – the largest attendance I have ever been a part of.

Oh, and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra blew away INXS. Their rendition of When the Saints Go Marching In with a female singer standing in front of a sea of red, white and black gave me goosebumps.

It was a brilliant game, but why wasn't there extra time? It seemed like it would be fairly easy to do?.

anothergoal wrote:
It was a brilliant game, but why wasn't there extra time? It seemed like it would be fairly easy to do?.

Draws happen so seldom in Aussie Rules, that the possibility of a drawn game usually never enters anyone's head. There was no provision to play extra time in the Grand Final- it would have to be agreed to beforehand, they couldn't just decide to play extra time on the spur of the moment after the game turned out to be drawn.

There will be extra time if the replay is drawn... but the possibility of another draw though, is so remote...(!)

I think there was provision in the semi finals for extra time to be played in the advent of a draw; but I don't think there has ever been a drawn semi final, so it has ever happened. I doubt if there has ever been extra time played in a match of Aussie Rules, anywhere, at any time. You could see how knackered the players were at the end of the grand final- it would have been an unprecedented thing for extra time to have been played.

Demetriou was saying this morning that there have only been about 140 draws in 110 whole seasons of VFL/AFL football. Yesterday's drawn Grand Final was of course the first ever drawn AFL final. The previous two draws were in VFL finals. In 1948, Melbourne kicked three more goals than Essendon, but the Bombers managed to draw with an incredible 27 behinds! Melbourne then easily won the replay by 39 points. In 1977, Collingwood kicked one more goal than North Melbourne in the grand final- but then the Roos easily won the replay by 27 points.

There was a drawn final at Subiaco in 2007 between West Coast and Collingwood. Collingwood won in extra time - it was unbelievably tense to watch.

The AFL have announced that 20,000 tickets will go to the members of each club - an extra 15,000 "real" supporters in the ground.

Channel 7's executives were reportedly grinning broadly at the final siren yesterday. Not only were they lucky enough to get a Collingwood grand final (they alternate the broadcasts with Ten) they now have 2 in 1 year.

The AFL are expected to profit by over $19m from the replay according to The Age.

Extra-time in finals (but not the Grand Final) was introduced after Collingwood and West Coast drew the 1990 Qualifying Final (when Peter Sumich kicked a point on the siren for West Coast), resulting in some pretty major logistical problems when the entire rest of the finals series had to be moved back a week. (This also screwed up minor premiers Essendon, who had the first week off under the old final five system, and ended up having to take a three week break which completely stalled their momemtum.) This led to an October Grand Final, which some Collingwood fans seem to be taking as an omen of sorts. (They haven't won a GF in September since 1958, but have a 100% record in October ones.)

There'd been at least one draw that I can think of before that - Carlton and Richmond drew the 1972 Second Semi Final, in a game in which Alex Jesaulenko tried a drop-torpedo from about 70 metres out to try to win the game after the siren. Richmond easily won the replay, but eventually got clobbered by Carlton in the big one. They seemed to be able to cope better with rearranging finals dates in those days.

Extra-time was first used in 1994 after a drawn Qualifying Final between North Melbourne and Hawthorn. A Wayne Carey-inspired North pulverised Hawthorn (and, many would say, conclusively ended the "Hawthorn era") in the extra ten minutes.

Edit - Oops, it's just occurred to me that Collingwood don't have a 100% record in October Grand Finals, because of course the '77 replay was played in October. A 50% record then, which is still considerably better than their record in September deciders.

So there have been drawn finals games before...! Everyone was carrying on yesterday like it was an utterly astonishing event that has never occurred before.

I still think number of goals kicked is something that could be used to decide drawn finals games...

Had to smile at Demetriou this morning...he was claiming that the first ever "australian rules" match, played in 1858, went on for two weeks without achieving a result (or even a goal being scored, for that matter.) He conveniently forgot to mention that this match would not have remotely resembled modern aussie rules as we know it- it would more likely have resembled a cross between soccer and rugby, with perhaps the Eton Wall Game thrown in for good measure....!

In the shops today but who will buy it? If we win next week, I'll want it as part of a compete set but, as brilliant as the game was, I won't ever want to see it again if St Kilda don't end up as premiers.

After being allocated tickets in the very back row of level 4 for Saturday and last year, I've struck lucky for the replay - we've got really good seats in level 1 of the Great Southern Stand. There are 3 further bays of St Kilda members to our left and 3 bays of Collingwood members on our right.