The night Michael Gardiner tore the Dome off Docklands: 15 years on from the St Kilda v Geelong game of the century
Joel Selwood, Jimmy Bartel and Lenny Hayes played nearly 1000 games – and 90 finals – between them. All of them, emphatically, say Round 14, 2009, was the best game they played in. JOSH BARNES retells the story, 15 years on.
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The birthday boy casually directs patrons at a pub in Port Melbourne to check out the big screen, knowing full well the biggest moment of his football career was about to pop up on replay.
This is July 5, 2009, when St Kilda players got together for a few beers to celebrate Michael Gardiner’s 30th birthday and an iconic tongue celebration.
Just hours before, Gardiner had capped off what many still believe is the best home-and-away game of all time, with the ruck soaring to win the match and best-on-ground honours.
Champions Jimmy Bartel, Joel Selwood and Lenny Hayes all agree that the round 14, 2009 clash between the Saints and Geelong is the best game of football they played in as two heavyweight sides duked it out in front of what is still the biggest footy crowd ever at Marvel Stadium.
On the 15th anniversary of a classic that truly had it all, this is a blow-by-blow of “Gardy’s game”.
‘PROFESSIONAL ENVY’
The rivalry between the Cats and Saints was born near the start of the decade, when the two up-and-coming lists were both hyped up years before their time.
They met in a spiteful 2004 Wizard Cup final and Cats coach Mark Thompson continuously trumpeted that he thought his young group was better than the growing Saints.
Geelong scaled the mountain in 2007 and let one slip in 2008, while Ross Lyon pushed St Kilda right into premiership contention in 2009.
That year, Lyon would sneakily remind his troops that they were still chasing the Geelong benchmark.
“We might have been playing other opposition but we would go into Ross’ team meeting pre-game and if they played before us, he would have Geelong’s team name and a ‘W’,” Saints great Hayes said.
“It would be like ‘Geelong has ticked off again boys’.”
The two teams were undefeated and sat at 13-0 before the match – St Kilda held a percentage of 177.5 and Geelong 149.7.
It was the latest an any VFL/AFL season that two sides have faced off when unbeaten.
“There was obviously enormous respect for those guys, how could there not be,” St Kilda midfielder Luke Ball said.
“We had massive, massive respect and in a way had great professional envy of them. They were the benchmark in that period.”
Looking back, Geelong legend Selwood still shakes his heads at the names on field from both sides.
“I am not sure if I ever played on a ground with as talented group as that day,” he said.
“St Kilda at their best was unbelievable.”
Thompson loved to hype up the big occasions, and according to Bartel, the coach was happy to build up the Sunday afternoon clash.
“He was very good at setting that rivalry up for Geelong,” Bartel said.
“There is the bullseye, they are the guys the footy world is all talking about, you have to prove that you guys are better.”
‘EVERY ACTION HAD CONSEQUENCES’
When you add them all up, Bartel, Hayes and Selwood played 957 games, 83 of which were finals and 10 grand finals.
But Selwood was emphatic: “I still talk about it being THE game. Literally THE game that was the best game that I ever played in.”
Bartel agreed.
“I think it was the best standard game that I have played in,” he said.
“That sounds really funny when you have a loss but you still felt strangely satisfied as a group and as a team because the Saints were awesome and they got out to a big lead and the rest of the time we were trying to reel them in.
“You realised when you walked off the ground that something pretty special happened.”
For Hayes, “it felt like every action had consequences”.
“It felt like if you made one defensive lapse, they would just go down and score. And I guess we were a little bit the same,” he said.
“And there were just unbelievable match-ups across the whole ground.”
As the perfect advertisement for Lyon’s forward press, the Saints stunned the Cats in the first quarter and kicked the first five goals.
“I remember thinking geez we are going well but St Kilda are just everywhere,” Bartel said.
“It felt like they were another speed on us, especially in the first quarter. Then it felt like we settled into the game.”
In the second term, Bartel took a classical high grab back with the flight and bounced up, immediately swinging the ball downfield for a Joel Corey goal.
“I think he (Corey) played on from a mark and he hit a snap from 40m out. That gets overlooked a bit, it was huge,” Bartel said.
A quarter later, Mathew Stokes and Max Rooke set Selwood up for a quick left-foot snap and the margin was back to three points.
“And I got crunched at the same time. There wasn’t much time in that game, I was lucky to get it through,” Selwood said.
There are three points that stick out from those that played in the game.
Firstly, the noise of 54,444 fans under the roof at what was then Telstra Dome can still make your laptop shake when watching the highlights.
Ball would go on to play in a premiership at Collingwood a year later and compared the noise of that 2009 game to some of the biggest days in front of the Magpie faithful.
“It feels like the roof is going to lift off in a sense,” he said.
“You really can’t hear anyone talking. It is pretty amazing. It is probably the equivalent to the preliminary finals games at Collingwood, where the best part of 100,000 are there (at the MCG).”
Given the seesawing nature of the game, the fans barely had a moment to rest.
“The crowd probably never had a lull,” Bartel said.
“There is a certain energy to it. A packed house at the ‘G is just a cauldron but it is a different energy under the roof.
“If you had a stoppage and there were guys a couple of metres away and you are just pointing because you couldn’t hear. It was deafening.”
The second memorable point is the pressure, skill and the exhaustion.
The great Leigh Matthews was reduced to giggling with delight on commentary as highlight goals were popped through in the final term and Dennis Cometti declared at one point the game deserved to be a draw.
The stars all delivered.
Nick Riewoldt was enormous with three goals, 11 marks and seven inside-50s.
In the midfield, Paul Chapman had 39 touches and goal, Bartel 37 disposals, Hayes 33 with 12 clearances, Gary Ablett chipped in with 27 and two goals, Nick Dal Santo and Leigh Montagna had 50 touches between them, Joel Corey had 27 and a goal, Corey Enright 30 and Selwood 30 and a goal.
“You are talking about it and I just remember the exhaustion now,” Selwood said this week.
“There was a passage of play late where there were just tackles all in a row on the far wing away from the bench and you couldn’t even hear the whistle, the play just went on.”
And the third talking point is the performance of Gardiner, the former No. 1 pick playing at his second club.
“Michael Gardiner was the one that finished it off,” Selwood said.
THE COLOSSUS ON HIS BIRTHDAY
Gardiner already has three goals in his bag before the biggest moment of his career.
With scores level and 1min40sec on the clock, Leigh Montagna won a high free kick and Ball snuck off the interchange bench in miles of space looking to pump the ball inside-50.
“Coming off the bench, I would have had a rough idea of how long there was to go and scores were level,” Ball said.
“I would be a bit cheeky and disingenuous to say I saw Gardy sliding forward and I put it to the spot. I was probably thinking I need to get this as close to the goal line as possible so if anything we can rush a score, or given the form Riewoldt was in, maybe he could do something.
“From memory Gardy makes up unbelievable ground from where he came from and he just clunked it, didn’t he.”
Gardiner sure did, soaring over a huge pack and clinging to a grab while accidentally knocking Harry Taylor out with one of his elbows.
1st v 2nd.
— AFL (@AFL) June 29, 2018
Round 14, 2009.
Michael Gardiner stood tall when it mattered most in this epic top-of-the-table clash. pic.twitter.com/WEtlzNG2vH
The big ruckman burned off opponent Mark Blake to get to the contest, no mean feat given he was carrying sore ribs from a Tom Hawkins knee earlier in the game.
“I used to like getting forward and kicking a goal. I was just off side and I could see Bally with the ball and put the head down and sort of just launched at it and plucked it and it just stuck in the hands,” Gardiner recalled.
“I sort of knew what I was doing but it all just worked nicely and then we had a bit of a wait.”
Bartel was caught deep in the pack.
“When I reviewed the game I thought ‘could I have had a launch at it?’,” he said.
“But Gardiner was 200cm tall and took a big grab. It wasn’t just that mark, he had a beauty of a game.”
It took almost five minutes to stretcher Taylor from the field – he would later say he woke in the rooms and asked the score, only for Cameron Mooney to tell Taylor that Riewoldt had bagged 10 goals on him.
Gardiner had to wait for his matchwinning shot at goal, from 15m out, with Cats defenders Andrew Mackie and Matthew Scarlett in his ear.
Gardiner stayed with his routine, kicked the goal and stuck his tongue out at those Cats, an iconic goal celebration.
“It was back at the lads. They had had their few minutes to try and put a bit of extra pressure on me,” he said.
“I think they got a laugh out of it as well. It obviously gets shown a little bit.”
Gardiner launched again right on the siren to take a giant mark on the wing, with Cometti crooning: “Gardiner, rises like a colossus”.
He finished the day with four goals and three Brownlow Medal votes but didn’t quite crown it as the best outing of his 181-game career.
“I played some pretty good games for West Coast back in the day. When I was in my early 20s and didn’t have the injuries I had (later) I played some pretty good games,” he said.
“It is certainly up there. And certainly one of the most memorable ones.”
Ball labelled the match as “Gardy’s game” and recalls the Saints getting together that night and Gardiner sneaking his way back into the spotlight.
“I remember going to the pub in Port Melbourne and of course they were playing a replay of it over and over and the last couple of minutes he might have just directed everyone to the big screen,” Ball laughed.
“Everyone who was there for his birthday or not, he would have called out to everyone.”
Gardiner said he couldn’t remember that and neither could Hayes but he thought “it sounds very Michael Gardiner-ish that”.
Asked whether he had a big one to mark his 30th birthday, Gardiner said “I was getting a bit older then, turning 30, so you do calm down a little bit. But the leopard doesn’t change his spots, they just get bigger and smaller some times”.
WE’LL MEET AGAIN
Universally, those that played in the game remember walking off knowing they were part of a special day, and that they would likely see the opposition again in September.
The game was lauded then and is still lauded now, with even veteran commentator Brian Taylor labelling it years later as when footy “peaked”.
“I think it is pretty cool and pretty awesome once you finish footy that that is a game that sticks in people’s memory,” Bartel said.
“Not only footy fans but guys like ‘BT’ who have watched 1000s of games and that is the game he thinks footy has peaked.”
Both teams shook hands and knew they would see more of each other in 2009.
“You wanted to see if your game stacked up and if you stacked up as an individual,” Hayes said.
“I think everyone who walked off that day would have walked off thinking, ‘we matched it and we will definitely meet again’.”
Of course, those two teams would meet again in an equally bruising classic grand final a couple of months later.
But that is a different story.
Originally published as The night Michael Gardiner tore the Dome off Docklands: 15 years on from the St Kilda v Geelong game of the century
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