In round 14, 2009, an Australian Football League home-and-away match was played between and at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne on 5 July 2009.
Both clubs entered the match undefeated with 13–0 records for the year. St Kilda won the classic, close encounter by six points, with ruckman Michael Gardiner kicking the winning goal inside the final two minutes. The attendance of 54,444 stands as the highest ever at Etihad Stadium for an Australian rules football match, and the match is considered one of the best home-and-away matches in the league's history.
Background In the 2009 AFL season, (the Saints) and (the Cats) were the two dominant clubs by a considerable margin. The only home-and-away match between the two was scheduled for round 14, by which time both clubs were undefeated with 13–0 records and four wins ahead of third place. Undefeated teams had never previously played each other so late in a VFL/AFL season, the previous latest being in round 8, 1991 between two 6–0 teams. The match was one of the most heavily promoted home-and-away games in the league's history.
The game held greater contextual significance than just the teams' undefeated records: Geelong and St Kilda were two of the era's best teams at the peaks of their abilities, and were separately dominating with their own revolutionary styles of play: was in its tenth year under coach Mark Thompson. It had been the pre-eminent team since 2007, and had won 55 of its last 58 matches including the 2007 premiership. Geelong had perfected a style of high-possession football, studded with star midfielders adept at running, carrying and executing chains of handpasses through the corridor of the ground, and it was consistently setting new league records for its high disposal counts. It was also routinely recording more handpasses than kicks; no team had ever previously done this successfully – having fewer kicks than handpasses was previously seen as a statistical marker of a struggling team – but Geelong had adapted the novel style into an attacking weapon which had made it into the league's highest scoring team. It had a forward-line built on a mix of star goalsneaks and capable key position players, and had some of the league's best key defenders. was in its third year under coach Ross Lyon, and after reaching three preliminary finals in the previous five years was enjoying a break-out season. Its success was built on full team defense, unrelenting tackle pressure at the ball-carrier and contested ball, a style which Lyon had designed primarily to counter Geelong's high-possession game. St Kilda's 2009 team was arguably the best defensive team of the modern era; it conceded only 64 points per game in the home-and-away season which, as of 2022, remains the lowest by any team in a conventional season since 1966. St Kilda's ball movement tended to be via the wings and flanks rather than the corridor, with a focus on turnover avoidance with ball in hand. It ran a more conventional tall forward-line than Geelong, with keys Nick Riewoldt and Justin Koschitzke near the peaks of their careers.
Geelong was a warm favourite in betting markets, attracting odds of $1.50–$1.57 through the week to St Kilda's $2.40–2.50. Betting volumes on the match were lower than typical, and a draw – which was backed in from $51 to $20 and came very close to eventuating – would have been by far the worst result for bookmakers.
Match arrangements
The match was a St Kilda home game, and was played at its primary home ground, Etihad Stadium. As early as May, the AFL opened negotiations with stadium managers, seeking to relocate the match from Etihad Stadium (capacity 55,000) to the Melbourne Cricket Ground (capacity 100,000), under a seldom-used 'best-fit' policy in place for the relocation of high-crowd matches. The relationships between the AFL and both stadium managements were strained for unrelated reasons at that time; and ultimately no deal to relocate was reached, since the expense of compensating Etihad Stadium, reticketing the match, and changing signage at the Melbourne Cricket Ground to satisfy Etihad Stadium advertisers, would have resulted in a $250k loss. Tickets to the match sold out by 22 June; it was not a declared event under Victorian anti-scalping laws, and some resold tickets fetched hundreds of dollars.
The match was originally scheduled to commence at 2:10pm, with a delayed telecast on the Seven Network to commence at 3pm in Melbourne, which was the standard scheduling for Sunday afternoon matches at the time. There was public demand for a live telecast of the match. For much of broadcast history, it had been the policy to protect gate takings by restricting live VFL/AFL telecasts into the home state unless the match was sold-out; this policy no longer existed in 2009, with the networks having the right to broadcast any match live, but it remained Seven Melbourne's preference to broadcast its Sunday matches delayed, as a ratings lead-in to its 6:00 pm news. To balance both expectations, the AFL changed the match's start time to 3:10pm, allowing both a live broadcast and a news lead-in. This was a once-off change until the 2012 broadcast deal; since then, the free-to-air broadcaster's Sunday afternoon match has always been a live broadcast at or around 3:10–3:20pm EST.
While the match was televised live in Melbourne, audiences in Sydney and Brisbane had the match delayed until midnight due to the AFL broadcasting contract requiring a Foxtel-produced match between the Sydney Swans and North Melbourne to be televised in those markets instead.
Match summary The match was played under the closed roof at Etihad Stadium. The sell-out crowd of 54,444 set a new record for an Australian rules football match at the stadium, with a majority supporting the home team St Kilda. Both teams lost important players to injury shortly before the match: veteran St Kilda defender Max Hudghton, who spent the week under an injury cloud after an incident the previous week, was omitted from the team for Raphael Clarke at the selection table; and Geelong goalsneak Steve Johnson withdrew on the morning of the game with a hip injury, and he was replaced by emergency Simon Hogan.
First quarter St Kilda dominated the opening phases of the game, and kicked its first goal after two minutes, when tagger Clinton Jones capitalised on a fumble by Geelong's Gary Ablett Jr., whom he tagged throughout the game. Two minutes later, Nick Riewoldt kicked the second goal after taking a courageous mark with the flight of the ball in the goal square. St Kilda cleared the ensuing centre bounce, and a long set shot by Justin Koschitzke was touched back into play by the Geelong defenders on the goal line, where it was gathered and kicked through for a close range goal by Michael Gardiner. St Kilda missed a strong chance for a fourth goal two minutes later from a turnover at half-forward; then kicked a fourth goal by a long set shot from Koschitzke, to lead 4.1 (25) to no score after only ten minutes of play.
Geelong gained some repeat forward-50 entries over the next five minutes, but St Kilda's defense was strong, and Geelong managed only a behind rushed from a marking contest in the 12th minute. St Kilda rebounded, and after forcing a turnover by Cameron Ling trying to clear the ball, Sam Fisher kicked a goal on the run in the 18th minute to extend the margin to 30 points. Adam Schneider narrowly missed a chance to kick St Kilda's sixth goal two minutes later, extending the margin to a game high 31 points: St Kilda 5.2 (32), Geelong 0.1 (1).
Geelong kicked its first two goals late in the quarter, in both cases benefitting from free kicks. In the 26th minute, after the kick-in from another St Kilda behind, the play ended with a mark to Ablett 65m from goal; he received a 50-metre penalty after Jones cribbed over the mark, and kicked Geelong's first goal from 15m. Then in the 30th minute, Travis Varcoe received possession from a ball-up at half forward and initially snapped a behind on the run from 35m; but, he received a free kick after being illegally bumped by Zac Dawson after the kick and kicked a goal from the second chance. St Kilda played tempo football to finish the quarter, and led 5.3 (33) to 2.2 (14) by 19 points at quarter time.
Second quarter Geelong won early ruck contests, but it was St Kilda who scored first, Riewoldt kicking a goal from 50m in the second minute. Geelong missed two relatively easy shots over the following minute: Simon Hogan missing a snap shot under minimal pressure, and Cam Mooney foregoing a 15m set shot from a 60° angle in favour of passing to Jimmy Bartel who missed from a worse position (45m, 30° angle); Mooney, a 181-game veteran, came under heavy criticism from analysts and his coach for his decision to pass. St Kilda went coast-to-coast from the kick-in after Bartel's behind, Andrew McQualter kicking the goal from 35m to extend the margin to 29 points. Despite the margin, gameplay statistics had evened up since St Kilda's fast start, and at this point the teams each had 19 inside-50s and Geelong led the clearances 14–10. Early in the second quarter, Geelong defender Darren Milburn injured his ankle, and he shifted into the forward line.
Geelong kicked the next two goals: a rapid chain of handpasses through the centre of the ground was finished by Milburn with a 45m goal in the 13th minute; and, after Varcoe caught Jason Blake holding the ball at St Kilda's half-forward, a quick rebound ended with a goal to Ablett from 15m in the 17th minute. Adam Schneider kicked a goal for St Kilda from the ensuing centre bounce. There followed several minutes of end-to-end play, before Joel Corey kicked the last goal of the quarter in the 24th minute. St Kilda held territory in the final minutes of the quarter missed two late chances – Leigh Montagna unable to convert a snap shot after Geelong's James Kelly turned over the ball deep in St Kilda's forward line; and Luke Ball taking a snap shot straight out of the ruck with six seconds remaining for no score. Geelong won the even quarter by two points, and St Kilda 8.4 (52) led Geelong 5.5 (35) by 17 points at half time.
Third quarter Geelong opened the strongest in the third quarter, with six inside-50s to one in the first seven minutes, but managed only two behinds – both of them long bombs by Paul Chapman which were touched on the goal line. Then, in the 8th minute against the run of play, St Kilda launched an attack from a free kick, which ended with a mark and goal by Gardiner from 30m, extending the margin to 21 points.
Geelong kicked the next three goals in less than four minutes to narrow the margin to only three points: in the 13th minute, a handpass chain through traffic ended with 50m set shot goal to Andrew Mackie; the ensuing centre clearance, won after a few repeat bounces, ended with a 50m set shot goal by Mooney; and the following centre bounce was won straight forward by Geelong, ending with a bouncing 40m snap shot by Joel Selwood which took an erratic bounce through for goal. St Kilda had the better of the last ten minutes of the quarter, the only goal kicked by Riewoldt from a 60m shot in the 27th minute, to extend the margin to ten points. Geelong won the quarter by seven points, although was the much stronger team for the quarter with a 15–8 advantage in inside-50s, and St Kilda led 10.5 (65) to Geelong 8.7 (55).
Final quarter