Frozen in time: Moment of genius in Matthew Scarlett toe-poke decides epic 2009 Grand Final

IN A GAME of inches, a moment of Matthew Scarlett genius would decide an epic Grand Final. Relive the story behind this classic image here.

Geelong v St Kilda

AN INVENTIVE toe-poke proved the decisive game-breaker in the 2009 Grand Final.

Matthew Scarlett’s deft stab at the ball which landed in Gary Ablett’s arms will remain the iconic image of Geelong’s triumph over St Kilda in a tight, gripping encounter.

In cold, greasy, windy conditions, scores were level as the clock wound down to the final five minutes of this game of inches.

FROZEN IN TIME: LEO BARRY, YOU STAR

A pass to Ablett in the middle of the ground was swatted away by a desperate lunge from Saint Zac Dawson and the ball spilled in the St Kilda direction.

Enter Scarlett, who beat two Saints to the ball and his flick of the boot found Ablett in the clear. A long kick to a goalsquare contest was gathered by Travis Varcoe who handballed to Paul Chapman for the matchwinning goal.

In a contest where no kick, mark and handball had been easy all day, Scarlett’s freakish act dealt a body blow to the Saints.

Herald Sun snappers George Salpigtidis and Stephen Harman preserved the moment for history with a fine series of  photos.

Scarlett's toepoke was particularly galling for Salpigtidis, who agreed that it was like a dagger through the heart for the long-suffering St Kilda fan in him.

"It just didn't seem fair, enough to bring tears," he said.

"It was a great effort by Dawson and it fell just wide of Kosi (Justin Koschitzke). The Saints could have gone into attack."

Salpigtidis also captured the resultant  Chapman snap for goal.

He took his photographs from halfway up in the Great Southern Stand.

Harman's photos from down the ground caught the Ablett gather with a desperate Koschitzke attempt to spoil, as well as the kick to the goal-square.  

WHAT THEY SAID

MATTHEW SCARLETT: "Someone had to sort of do something magical and I guess that was me. To this day I'm not sure why I kicked it off the ground and didn't bend down and pick the ball up. It was either going to pay off or I was going to look like an idiot. I was that excited I was chasing after Gaz and telling him to kick a goal and I think he thought I was a St Kilda player and I was going to tackle him."

GARY ABLETT: "I thought I was free by 20-30m, not knowing that Zac Dawson was coming. All I can remember is when I did turn around and see that St Kilda player I just thought, 'Oh no, the ball's going to go the other way here, they're going to score and win the game'."

PAUL CHAPMAN: "You have these dreams of kicking a goal after the siren and winning Grand Finals off your own boot. To be able to be the person to kick that goal I'll always remember ... I can't find the right words to properly explain how I feel about it. It was meant to happen that way, I think maybe someone was looking over us."

ZAC DAWSON: “If that spoil had gone five metres left or right, things could have been totally different. It always comes down to an inch or a millimetre in those sorts of games and you always wonder what if, but personally, I have no regrets, I feel like I did my job and played my role for the team.”

MATCH REPORT

Geelong escapes choker hold in the Sunday Herald Sun by Jon Ralph September 27, 2009

A YEAR after an outright choke on the game's biggest stage, Geelong staggered to the three-quarter time huddle yesterday aware it was slowly being strangled to death.

The game's dominant juggernaut was barely gasping for air, so effectively had St Kilda's brutal tackling pressure and zone defence combined to squeeze Geelong.

With seven more scoring shots, an extraordinary 19 more inside-50s and outright dominance across the ground, St Kilda deserved much more than a seven-point lead.

But one remarkable quarter of finals football later, the Cats had pulled off one of Grand Final history's greatest heists.

As the dust settled or more appropriately the tickertape drifted slowly to the turf it was hard to know which was the more compelling storyline.

Geelong, so cruelly denied last year, triumphing with three unanswered last-term goals through the heroics of Harry Taylor, Gary Ablett, Paul Chapman and Max Rooke?

Or St Kilda butchering the chance to end a 43-year drought on the game's most unforgiving stage?

Because that is the cold, hard reality St Kilda's players could spend a lifetime pondering.

They had this game by the throat and stunningly, mystifyingly, agonisingly watched it slip away.

A long list of Saints, starting with Steven Milne, Adam Schneider and Andrew McQualter, will rue squandering point-blank shots at goal that could ultimately have won the day for St Kilda.

As a contest, the match was raw, emotional and downright brilliant.

The two best sides of the year were engaged in a rugged street fight in atrocious conditions until one of them finally let down their guard to allow the knockout blow.

After all that had happened over the first three dramatic, tension-filled quarters, the surprise was that it was Geelong left standing.

For the second consecutive year, the best team of the home-and-away season has come up short.

Instead, the great pretenders of the previous generation have morphed into something utterly different.

Geelong, which had famously lost five premiership deciders in the past two decades, has now been crowned as one of the great sides of the modern era.

Superior to the Brisbane Lions of 2001-03? Perhaps not.

But two premierships and three years of total home-and-away dominance must elevate the club into football's pantheon.

Just how did it happen?

Geelong's last-quarter surge was built on a bedrock of midfield dominance, but the three goals were all worthy of description.

First Tom Hawkins, so ineffectual all day, got the margin back to a point with a juggled mark and 45m set shot from a tight angle.

The sides then traded behinds until scores were locked at 67 points apiece.

Then with three minutes and 15 seconds left came the game-defining moment.

Steve Johnson kicked adventurously to Gary Ablett in the centre square and Zac Dawson courageously sprinted off his man.

But his clearing fist only rebounded to Ablett via Matt Scarlett's toepoke, and he sprinted clear to kick long to the goalsquare.

Rooke crashed the pack, Travis Varcoe swooped and handballed and Chapman's left-foot snap from the top of the goalsquare put the Cats a goal clear.

Then Max Rooke's soccered point after another Ablett stoppage win seemingly had Geelong home, before Scarlett rushed a needless behind only seconds later.

With St Kilda a goal down, Darren Milburn kicked in with less than a minute left. The scene was set.

Up stepped Taylor to haul in a match-saving mark, with Rooke adding the window-dressing goal seconds later.

If you are looking for Grand Final heroes, look no further than unheralded Geelong defender Taylor.

Dominating Nick Riewoldt for three quarters, his ice-cool nerves meant he was the strongman of Geelong's defence.

Then came his crucial mark.

It wasn't Leo Barry, but it was as sweet.

Ablett, held to 20 possessions at three-quarter time, simply exploded in the last term. He took risks at every turn, with each one of his five last-term touches a dagger in St Kilda's heart.

Small forward Rooke was similarly bold, with his post-siren goal reward for his frenzied attack on the ball.

And finally there was Chapman.

Three goals including the one that truly mattered, three direct assists, and immortality as the Norm Smith medallist.

There were villains too.

Geelong's worst players, Varcoe and Steve Johnson, will escape scrutiny.

But Dawson, Raph Clarke, Milne and Schneider all failed to reward the total faith their coach had invested in them.

The only drought that broke over the MCG yesterday was the welcome spring rain.

St Kilda has known so much heartbreak but, for the club's loyal supporters, this was almost too much to bear.

SCOREBOARD

GEELONG 3.0 7.1 9.4 12.8 (80)
ST KILDA 3.2 7.7 9.11 9.14 (68)

BEST
St Kilda: Hayes, Gram, Ball, Montagna, Goddard, Baker.
Geelong:Taylor, Chapman, Ablett, Selwood, Corey, Bartel, Ling.

GOALS
St Kilda: Schneider 2, Dempster, Riewoldt, Montagna, Goddard, Hayes, Jones, Koschitzke.
Geelong: Chapman 3, Rooke 2, Hawkins 2, Mooney 2, Ablett, Byrnes, Selwood

INJURIES
St Kilda: Goddard (nose, shoulder).
Geelong: Harley (soreness), Chapman (hamstring).

Umpires: McBurney, Ryan, Rosebury
Crowd: 99,251

Chris de Kretser has been to 45 Grand Finals since 1958.