Geelong's second premiership in three years

THE STATS THAT MATTER ...
MILESTONES OF GRAND FINAL —
l 200th STEVEN BAKER (St Kilda), 1999-2009, 178 premiership games, 22 pre-season ... 200th COREY ENRIGHT (Geelong), 2001-09, 175 premiership games, 24 pre-season 1 State ... 100th FARREN RAY, 25 StK 2009, 75 WB 2004-08 ... 50th CLINTON JONES (St Kilda), 2007-09 ...

Published attendance for 2009 Grand Final –

FROM THE GRAND FINAL

ST KILDA v GEELONG
the pair met in League ranks for the 203rd time, producing the 123rd win for the Cats and just 80 wins for the Saints – in 113 seasons the two have never drawn a match ...
across 2007-2009 the two met on five occasions with Geelong winning four times; the Saints in the span never produced a century score – 65 points, 94, 61, 91 and 68 ...
Michael Rogers noted Geelong is the first team to win the Grand Final by only winning the last quarter ...
the Cats join 20 other Premiers who were never on top of the ladder during the season ...
St Kilda join 20 other teams who were on top of the ladder more than 70% of the season but weren't premiers ...
Geelong's 5th goal of the match kicked by GARY ABLETT was their 200th in a Grand Final ...
St Kilda's 2nd goal of the match kicked by LENNY HAYES was their 50th in a Grand Final ...
it was the 15th time the Grand Final has been won by the team with fewer scoring shots ...
it was the 1st time the Grand Final has been won in consecutive years by the team with fewer scoring shots ...
the 31st Grand Final win by the team finishing 2nd on the ladder – the split between 1st and 2nd is now: 1st 59.48, 2nd 40.52 ...
for the 6th time the Grand Final has been won in consecutive years by the team finishing 2nd on the ladder – 2001-02, 1990-91, 1954-54, 1935-36, 1932-33 ...
it was the 11th Grand Final won by team trailing at 3/4 time and the first since 1984 ...
it was only the 8th Grand Final where the margin at each quarter break was 12 points or less ...
St Kilda is the 29th team to fail to score a goal in Q4 of a Grand Final – it was the first time St Kilda failed to score a goal in the last quarter of a Grand Final ...
the GF produced St Kilda's only goalless last quarter for 2009 ...
2.7-19 is St Kilda's lowest 2nd half score for 2009 – previous: 3.9-27 v Hawthorn R19 ...
record season attendance and average attendance for both Geelong (1,086,211 – 43,448) and St Kilda (1,028,918 – 41,157) ...
St Kilda continues with the lowest match/win ratio in Grand Finals of any team – 16.67% – 1 win from 6.

Geelong's 12.8.80 in the Grand Final was their lowest winning score for the season.
They join 17 other premiers who won with their lowest winning score that year.
(Last: Brisbane with 10.15-75 in 2002)

Geelong won the Grand Final with their equal lowest number of scoring shots (20)
for the year. (Previously: 13.7 round 14 v St Kilda and 9.11 round 15 v Brisbane.)
They become only the 4th premiers to win the grand final with their lowest or
equal lowest number of scoring shots for the year.
(Last: Carlton with 27 in 1979.)

Although only losing by 12 points, St Kilda becomes 1 of 35 teams to have recorded their biggest loss of the year in the Grand Final.
(Last: Port Adelaide 2007)

Geelong in 2009 became the only team since the introduction of the final 8
to keep their opponents in the Preliminary Final and the Grand Final goalless in the last quarter.



Bruce Kennedy observed: The Grand Final sheeted home the vital capacity of Geelong to win tight finishes. Once again the Cats prevailed in a “50-50”. This season Geelong was 6-1 in 12-point matches. The only such game the Cats lost was against St Kilda in Rd 14. The next best for the season was North Melb 4-2-1, followed by St Kilda 4-3.
   In 18-point matches the Cats finished 7-2, with St Kilda 6-3 and Adelaide 5-2 next best.

The GF produced an uncanny resemblance to the 2008 finals series.
   Hawthorn entered the 2008 finals series in good form, displaying the most fluent footy during the campaign. The Hawks demolished the Bulldogs and St Kilda before wearing down Geelong in the Grand Final. In contrast the Cats were tradesman-like at best in defeating St Kilda and the Bulldogs, and then laboured against Hawthorn.
   Geelong was a mirror-image of 2008. It entered the 2009 finals series in good form, and was the most fluent in the recently completed campaign. The Cats looked sharp in defeating the Bulldogs, and showed the Magpies a clean pair of heels. They then outlasted the Saints to take the flag. St Kilda didn’t exactly look flash in vanquishing Collinwood and the Bulldogs, and wasted its opportunities in the Grand Final, in exactly the same way Geelong did in 2008.

Selected sides
St Kilda
B: Jason Blake, Zac Dawson, Steven Baker
HB: Brendon Goddard, Sam Fisher, Sam Gilbert
C: Farren Ray, Lenny Hayes, Nick Dal Santo
HF: Andrew McQualter, Justin Koschitzke, Clint Jones
F: Stephen Milne, Nick Riewoldt, Jason Gram
Foll: Steven King, Leigh Montagna, Adam Schneider
I-C: Luke Ball, Raphael Clarke, Sean Dempster, Michael Gardiner
Emg: David Armitage, Jarryn Geary, James Gwilt
In: Dempster
Out: Robert Eddy

Geelong
B: Darren Milburn, Matthew Scarlett, Corey Enright
HB: Tom Harley, Harry Taylor, Andrew Mackie
C: Joel Corey, Cameron Ling, James Kelly
HF: Jimmy Bartel, Cameron Mooney, Steve Johnson
F: Travis Varcoe, Tom Hawkins, Paul Chapman
Foll: Mark Blake, Joel Selwood, Gary Ablett
I-C: Brad Ottens, Shannon Byrnes, Max Rooke, David Wojcinski
Emg: Shane Mumford, Simon Hogan, Mathew Stokes
No change

Umpires: Stephen McBurney, Brett Rosebury and Sean Ryan
Boundary: Darren Wilson, Adam Coote, Mark Foster and Mark Thompson
Goals: David Dixon and Mark Canning.