2010 Grand Final

St. Kilda and Collingwood met twice during the 2010 home-and-away season. The Saints won a round 3 matchup way back in April, and the Magpies took the round 16 rematch three months later.

Collingwood won the minor premiership and were the #1 seed as a result of having the best win-loss record during the season, while St. Kilda finished third on the ladder. They would meet in what would normally be the last game of the season, and then they'd do it again.

The 2010 Grand Final between the two sides was a riveting affair, the Pies clinging to a one-point lead with under 2:00 to play and the Saints knocking on the door, bringing every ounce of desperation they had.

Saint Lenny Hayes kicked from just outside the forward 50-meter line, hoping to find a friendly face near the sticks. Not having the distance, the ball caromed away from teammate Stephen Milne and through for a behind, tying the game at 68. Had the ball bounced into Milne's hands (he'd gotten away from his defender), he had an open kick at goal from point-blank range that would've given the underdog Saints a five-point margin late in the match.

Instead that's where the scoring ended. Hayes won the 2010 Norm Smith Medal as the best on ground.

This match became the third of its kind in AFL history. In the other two, Melbourne beat Essendon in 1948 and North Melbourne defeated Collingwood in the rematch of the 1977 Grand Final.

The exhaustion...

and the stunned disbelief of both sides following a drawn Grand Final.

It's fascinating to watch the closing moments as the siren presided over drawn teams. The feeling is surreal at the MCG-- all the energy just completely left the building, replaced with a feeling of bewilderment at having to process a tie.

The sting must have been a little sharper for St. Kilda because they squandered a fourth quarter lead and lost the 2009 Grand Final to the Geelong Cats.

Instead the Saints and Pies went through more preparation and somehow tried to get their minds and bodies ready to play another match on the biggest stage of them all.

What's amazing about this is the overtime rules were in effect for all other finals matches, and were actually implemented in 1994 (North Melbourne over Hawthorn) and in the 2007 playoffs when Collingwood defeated West Coast.

Those games were settled with two five-minute extra periods, with sudden death in case scores are still level.

I compare this to America and the feeling that would be out there if the Super Bowl was still tied and everyone went home. It wouldn't happen of course because of how the rules are set up, but what if the Packers and Patriots were told to come back next week? Disbelief and outrage, correct?

So earlier this year the AFL amended their bylaws so that the Grand Final would also go to the two five-minute extra periods. I feel like this should have been done sooner, but part of the reasoning is that they seemed to like the possibility of having a tie. It makes sense, since they get to have another 100,000 fans buy tickets. Another stated reason is travel, as a non-Victorian side may have a disadvantage of added plane rides.

As for the 2010 Grand Final replay, Collingwood held St. Kilda to one first-half goal and won by 56 points. It marked their 15th (and most recent) Premiership. Scott Pendlebury for the Magpies won the Norm Smith Medal.

History Lesson

So Mason Cox was back in the lineup for Collingwood. He managed to kick a couple of goals but his shoulder was wrapped pretty well and it was plain to see it was bothering him. The up and down season of the Pies continues with a 15-point loss to the Richmond Tigers, who are struggling this season. Last year Richmond had a big streak to close out the season, winning like their last nine to qualify for the postseason. They're not having similar fortune this season.

My other match of the week was the Western Bulldogs qualifying for the eight with a win over North Melbourne. The Kangaroos can still make it, but Western sealed their trip to the postseason. It's pretty remarkable work by the Bulldogs since they've lost a lot of players to injury this season, including their captain Robert Murphy very early in the season.

Last week I wrote about Matthew Pavlich and Brent Harvey, and I saw some St Kilda highlights the other day and another player was wearing the old #7 jumper that Lenny Hayes wore before retiring in 2014. Those things made me think about how AFL teams honor their great players of the past, because Hayes was prominent on those two hard-luck Saints teams in 2009-10 and it didn't take long for someone else to put on his old guernsey.

I get it that there are only so many to go around and that you can't retire everyone's number, hang them from the rafters, put them on the ring of honor or whatever. There are 18 AFL teams and many teams share different venues such as Etihad or the MCG. That makes it tough honor past players in any of those ways.

Geography plays a role, since in the area of Melbourne, Victoria, you have the teams Carlton, Richmond, Collingwood, Essendon, Melbourne, Hawthorn, Western Bulldogs, and North Melbourne all within a very close proximity of one another. That's almost half of the 18 teams in the competition. A park for each of those sides isn't practical. In fact, I find it amazing that there's such strong fan support for teams that are so close geographically.

Stateside the situation is different. Teams don't share a venue unless it's a situation like the Seattle Seahawks/Sounders. In a league of X number of teams, there are X stadiums nationwide, so honoring past players by putting their names/numbers on display is easier. Each team gets to do their own thing.

I have noticed that individual AFL teams each do a great job of preserving histories on their own websites. There are a lot of 'teams of the century' from the older clubs, as well as naming of all players to wear a specific guernsey number, premiership seasons, and such. So it's nice to see these things told, retold, and preserved.

On tap for this week-- three weeks left in the 2016 home and away season. Geelong at Richmond, and North Melbourne at Hawthorn. The Hawks dropped one to Melbourne last week and are now just one game clear of four other sides at the top of the ladder. I saw one prediction list them as falling to fifth by the end of the season. Their percentage isn't as good as the teams below them, and they've got questions regarding injury and suspension. Should be fun.

Play on!