Nick Dal Santo was screaming. His teammate Clint Jones was standing not even five metres away but he wasn’t flinching.

The noise when the teams had run out had been as loud as anything Dal Santo had experienced on a football field. And now even when the game was underway it was still overwhelming.

Dal Santo was trying to get Jones, who had the tagging job on Dane Swan, to swap sides at the centre wing stoppage.

“I was screaming at him and he couldn’t hear a word I was saying because it was just so loud that basically you couldn’t speak to each other at times,” Dal Santo said.

There had been no let-up in the noise from the opening bounce and it got even louder 22 seconds into the game when the Magpies scored the opening goal of the Grand Final.

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And it was the unlikely figure of ruckman Darren Jolly who got it, courtesy of a brilliant handball from Alan Didak which found the former Sydney Swan big man at the top of the goalsquare.

The recruitment of Jolly and Luke Ball, who had left St Kilda after falling out with coach Ross Lyon following the Saints agonising Grand Final loss to Geelong the previous year, had proved to be an inspired move.

For Swan the addition of Jolly, a premiership player at Sydney in 2005, was the missing piece in the Magpies puzzle.

“My whole career until then we had never had that big dominant ruckman,” Swan said. “Jolly was the perfect fit for us.”

The Collingwood chant was momentarily muted when Stephen Milne got the Saints on the board five minutes later but it was only a brief respite.

When Swan chipped a pass to Dale Thomas out wide on the half-forward flank the Pies were rolling. They’d kicked back-to-back goals through Jarryd Blair and Didak, the later an extraordinary set shot from the boundary line.

Thomas was outside the 50m arc and as he went back he quickly made an assessment of the situation which not many in his shoes would have agreed with.

“Being young and brash, not many would have a ping from 52 or 53 metres out with a torp in the first quarter,” Thomas said.

“But that was the confidence Mick (Malthouse) gave me to play with so I went back and thought, ‘Bugger it, there’s no real point going to the top of the square so I’ll have a shot’.

“The breeze was slightly with me but I hit it halfway up my shin. It started in the middle of the points and then drifted around the goal post somehow.

Thomas’ mongrel torpedo punt goal was the final straw for Brendon Goddard.

“They were kicking goals out of their arse and I was like, ‘It’s not going to be one of those games where nothing can go wrong for them’,” he said.

Goddard had also been surprised by the noise factor given he figured having played in a Grand Final 12 months earlier would have prepared the Saints for the occasion.

“There was this perceived pressure,” he said. “We had played the year before but I remember my first possession I was rushed and I felt like the crowd was going nuts which made you feel like you were under pressure.

“I actually asked to have a look at the footage of it at quarter-time just to get a feel and I’d actually had three or four metres of space.

“But I felt this pressure from the crowd, you just had this sense that the Collingwood supporters were cheering because you were about to get run down from behind.”

The pressure continued on the scoreboard also as the Magpies domination kicked in with three goals to one in the second quarter seeing the half-time margin out to 24 points.

It should have been a lot more which was what was worrying Collingwood captain Nick Maxwell as he ran off.

Centre half-forward Travis Cloke had sprayed a couple of golden opportunities late in the term which made Mick Malthouse distinctly uncomfortable.

“I could sense that the player group thought, ‘We’ve got them and that it will continue’,” Malthouse said.

Nick Riewoldt was on the prowl in the Saints rooms. He sensed the door hadn’t been shut and went about ensuring his teammates understood that.

Dal Santo was getting his regular half-time massage when the skipper strode past.

“He was saying, ‘This is what we train for, this is who we are, we love these situations, we’ve been here before’,” Dal Santo said. “It hit something with me and I thought, ‘Yeah that’s true, this is what we do’.”

Lenny Hayes used actions more than words so when he started pacing around his teammates they couldn’t help but pick up on the fire that was burning inside the star on-baller.

Ross Lyon was calm. He simply reinforced the Saints footy motto and made the point that this team may never be in this position again.

“There are no guarantees so whatever you have got, make sure you give it,” Lyon said.

Strategically he moved Farren Ray to Swan because Jones’ tag wasn’t working while assistant coach Greg Hutchison suggested defender Sam Gilbert should move forward to spark things up given the Saints had only kicked four goals.

Riewoldt’s final words as the team prepared to run out struck a nerve with Goddard: “It was compelling, he asked everyone if they believed we could still win and if you don’t, you can stay here in these rooms.”

Lyon had been in the game too long to try and read the group but he liked what he’d heard and seen during the break.

What he wasn’t so sure about was the basins in the bathrooms which he noticed were filling up as he dashed past on his way back to the coaches’ box.

THE MOMENT THAT CHANGED THE MATCH

THE symbolism wasn’t lost on anyone.

When Hayes and Swan collided inside the opening minute of the third quarter, the MCG shook. The Collingwood star had been planted into the turf by a brutal tackle and penalised for dropping the ball.

A statement had been made and St Kilda’s favourite son had made it emphatically.

“Lenny had talked the talk and now he’d walked the walk,” Montagna said.

The Saints were a different team and fittingly it was Riewoldt who kicked the first goal of the term after some trademark gut running led to a set shot from 30 metres.

Goddard had been influential all day and he then imposed himself again on the contest with his first goal coming after he floated across in front of the pack with one-hand to pull down the mark just 15 metres out.

The margin was now only 13 points and three minutes later it was down to seven with the Gilbert move delivering big time when the defender nailed a shot off one-step from the pocket.

Collingwood were under siege and they weren’t helping themselves with Thomas and Blair blowing golden opportunities to stem the bleeding late in the quarter.

Lyon’s message was simple in the three-quarter time huddle:

His opposite number was furious that his gut feel had been right but Malthouse knew he couldn’t show it, instead he went about reinforcing how the Collingwood way had been so successful all year and that if everyone stayed on script it would hold up.

He knew the group would respond, he just didn’t know who would be the one to spark it.

And he probably wasn’t expecting Leon Davis.

The Pies veteran had barely touched the ball all day which had followed a similar tale to his previous two appearances in grand finals, back in 2002 and 2003.

After an arm wrestle for the opening seven minutes, Collingwood big man Leigh Brown punched the ball forward from a stoppage towards Davis and his shadow Sean Dempster.

In the blink of an eye Davis grabbed the ball, zipped inside, broke one tackle and kicked the goal brilliantly around his body from 40 metres out.

His timing was impeccable as was Hayes’ three minutes later.

When he marked outside the 50m arc his teammates figured Hayes’ 26th possession would either be a short pass or a set-up kick to the top of the goalsquare.

He could do many things but nailing long shots for goal from outside 50m wasn’t in his wheelhouse.

Until now.

As Montagna watched the kick sail over the goal line, he was in awe of the man wearing No.7. “Far out he’s carrying us,” he thought.

A minute later Milne found himself isolated one-on-one with Harry O’Brien which he used to his advantage beautifully, taking the mark and kicking truly to put the Saints within one point.

Collingwood needed its own hero so captain Nick Maxwell decided to put on his cape.

When Riewoldt quickly had a hurried snap out of the pack from 30 metres out his end-on-end kick looked certain to bounce through until Maxwell produced a stunning full-length dive to get his fingers on it just before the goalline.

“You kick that 20 more times and it wouldn’t sit up like that at that point of time,” a relieved Thomas observed. “Usually there is that little skip step at the end and then it kicks on but for whatever reason it didn’t do that.”

It wouldn’t be the last time St Kilda fans cursed the bounce of the ball.

THE ULTIMATE FINAL QUARTER

LUKE Ball wasn’t having a great day.

“I struggled to get into the game, I’d really had an absolute shocker,” he said.

And he had a sense it was about to get even worse as he watched a hurried Hayes kick float towards where he was manning Goddard at the top of St Kilda’s goalsquare.

“I remember the kick coming in and I thought, ‘F***ing hell, he has got the sit here’.”

Goddard had been growing increasingly frustrated that the ball hadn’t come towards the match-up he’d engineered with his undersized former teammate.

“I was outside 50 at one point so I thought I have to get inside 50 to try and get some isolation on Bally,” he said.

“I was waving to them to get it into me. Finally it came in and it was just one of those things, I had the perfect sit.”

Goddard had managed to lose contact with Ball and launched on the shoulders of O’Brien.

“He (O’Brien) was unfortunately just in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Goddard said. “I think anyone who takes a good hanger you kind of realise, ‘Yeah that was pretty good’.

“Watching it back I get bigger chills because you see the crowd, you see the ball come in and the whole stand erupt and that makes the hair stand on the back of your neck.”

The mark was destined to be the iconic image of the 2010 Grand Final and be forever seen as the moment St Kilda broke its premiership drought.

Or so a few of Goddard’s teammates were thinking.

Defender Steven Baker watched the goal – which put the Saints infront for the first time – from the wing and as he walked back into position, his eyes met those of teammate Justin Koschitzke.

“I looked at Kosi and looked in his eyes, he had this big grin on his face,” Baker said. “I got the goosebumps and went back to line up on my man thinking we have got this.”

Montagna had similar feelings.

“I remember thinking this is now real. For the whole of the game we were on the back foot and chasing, that was the first sort of moment where I thought, ‘Gee, this might actually come off’,” he said.

Goddard had checked the clock when he went back for his kick and estimated there was at least six minutes remaining so his head had gone straight to the next centre bounce.

“A few of us used to talk about, ‘Just play to the last second’, that was one of our key messages. It meant something to all of us, just about continually staying in the moment.

“So the midfielders were yelling that out as we ran back to the centre square. I think most of us felt that the crowd thought ‘This is it’ but we were trying to get the message out to just keep playing.”

Swan was shaking his head as he headed back to the middle thinking “don’t let this be the way we lose a granny”.

His captain had already made a decision about how he was going to play out the final minutes.

“I made a conscious decision that if the ball comes in my area I’m going to try something,” Maxwell said.

Luckily for the Magpies, the skipper was a man of his word.

With less than four minutes remaining St Kilda’s lead was five points when Sam Fisher ran off half-back and kicked long towards Gilbert.

Normally Maxwell would put his sizable fist in the way but in keeping with his new declaration he instead leapt high and took a spectacular mark.

And then he was off, even taking a bounce, as he moved into the centre of the ground before delivering a pass to Alan Didak.

He then went short to Steele Sidebottom on the wing who spotted Brent Macaffer by himself near the boundary line. He immediately played on and ran to 55m before kicking long to the top of the goalsquare.

And guess who was in the box seat again?

Goddard was in the perfect spot to take the mark having bodied Pies forward Chris Dawes out of the contest.

He thought he had protection from behind through Jason Gram but at the last second Collingwood’s Heath Shaw crashed into him spoiling the mark.

Goddard then watched in horror as the ball fell into the lap of Dawes who was on the ground. He immediately handballed to Travis Cloke for the easiest goal of his career which put the Magpies back in front.

“Personally that is a big moment because if I’d taken the mark we could have slowed it down and maintained possession for a while,” he said.

There was no slowing down in the next couple of minutes as bodies flew everywhere with 36 players searching for their moment.

It was no surprise that it was St Kilda’s leaders who stood up.

First Riewoldt pulled down a huge pack mark at half-back. He then went long towards centre half-forward where Hayes ran onto the loose ball and immediately threw the ball on his boot.

What happened in the next six seconds shaped football history and changed the lives of so many.

Ben Johnson would later compare the initial bounce of the ball to Shane Warne’s famous Gatting ball. What it did was put him out of the contest and provide Stephen Milne with a free run at the ball and the goals.

Then the Sherrin did something that every player on that field still can’t explain 10 years on.

It somehow kicked sideways right out of the reach of Milne who was paused and ready to accept the ball had it done what everyone at the MCG expected and bounced up normally.

“If I could have dived for it I would have dived for it but I couldn’t,” Milne says. “I’ve lost many sleepless nights over it. I’ve thought about it thousands of times.”

Hayes still blames himself for the kick. “Looking back, could I have taken a couple of extra steps? Could I have put the ball out in front of him?”

Dal Santo has analysed every angle of it. “That ball could have bounced any direction apart from the hard right turn and we win the game.”

Montagna had been shepherding Hayes when he kicked it and can’t believe Milne’s actions were questioned.

“At the time and still to this day I think Milney did the right thing. People ask why didn’t he dive on the football but no-one does that in the forward pocket and if anyone knows how to read the bounce of a ball it’s Stephen Milne.”

There was still 90 seconds remaining after the point which levelled the scores.

For what seemed like an eternity the ball stayed on the members’ wing with St Kilda getting one last foray forward which the Magpies were able to repel with a series of small heroic acts.

A Scott Pendlebury tackle and then a Heath Shaw clearing kick saved Collingwood before Gram’s decision to leave his opponent and run at a rampaging Swan saved the game for the Saints.

MORE THE LAST DRAW

PART 1: THE SECRET DRAMA BEFORE-HISTORY MAKING GF

DROPPED: MOMENT DAVIS HAD HIS GF DREAMS ENDED

When the siren sounded declaring the AFL had its third Grand Final draw in history there was widespread confusion on the ground as players slumped to the ground.

But in the Collingwood coach’s box there was clarity. For Malthouse it was only half-time and he had a simple instruction for his assistants.

“Let’s go down there and tell them they’ve just qualified for a Grand Final and a chance to win a premiership.”

(Additional references used – The Final Draw documentary, Triple M and Fox Footy podcasts)