Andrew Mackie and Joel Corey celebrate Geelong's 12-point grand final win over St Kilda on Saturday
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GEELONG has won its second premiership in three years, overcoming St Kilda in a titanic AFL grand final at the MCG on Saturday afternoon.
With Paul Chapman's snap at the 23-minute mark of the final quarter, the Cats grabbed back the lead and hung on to win 12.8 (80) to 9.14 (68); the 12-point margin sealed with Max Rooke's meaningless dribble after the final siren.
Significantly, the Cats also kept the Saints goalless in the final term after Leigh Montagna's conversion late in the third quarter gave his side the important advantage.
Chapman was the formal hero, awarded the Norm Smith Medal as the best player on the ground with 26 possessions and three goals, but Rooke, Gary Ablett, Harry Taylor, Darren Milburn and Jimmy Bartel were stirring in support.
Ablett wore the tag of Clint Jones all afternoon to finish with 25 possessions, Bartel laid 16 tackles and Taylor and Matthew Scarlett won their duels with Nick Riewoldt and Justin Koschitzke.
Joel Corey (29 possessions) and Joel Selwood (24) were invaluable in the clinches while Cameron Mooney and Tom Hawkins provided solid targets in attack.
For the Saints, Jason Gram finished with 30 possessions and would have taken Chapman's medal if the result fell the other way, while Steven Baker had the better of the dangerous Steve Johnson.
Lenny Hayes (24 possessions) and Nick Dal Santo both faced Cats stopper Cameron Ling throughout stages of the afternoon, with their influence falling right away after half time.
From the moment Hayes closed the gap to five points in the first term, the match was as tight and unrelenting as the home-and-away epic fought out by these sides in round 14.
Twelve points was the biggest margin all day, and the entire second half was played with the gap in single digits. Hawkins' goal less than two minutes into the last term was the only major for 22 minutes as tense and frantic as any in recent memory.
The Saints had led at every change, pulling back a 12-point deficit early in the game to take a two-point advantage into quarter time.
Scarlett conceded a free kick and goal to Sean Dempster to start the second term and though Stephen Milne, Andrew McQualter and Adam Schneider wasted golden opportunities, the Saints were able to protect their lead.
However, Ablett was granted a shot on goal after he was held by Sam Gilbert, Hawkins' terrific pressure in the forward 50 saw his smother on Zac Dawson and Travis Varcoe's slick handball to Chapman deep in attack restored the Cats' 12-point buffer.
Such was the intensity of the game that St Kilda responded with three goals in two-and-a-half minutes. Jones belted forward the spills of a near-stoppage, Koschitzke soccered through another and, when umpire McBurney took exception to Milburn's reaction to Koschitzke's goal, Schneider had the ball at the top of the square.
The Saints were six points in front.
Mooney's strong mark at the top of the square gave the Cats the lead back in a term that saw two goals kicked by each side.
As much as the Saints look to tighten the screws, the Cats employed similar tactics.
Riewoldt shook Taylor in a contest to mark and convert but was otherwise twice denied: once by a Scarlett tackle, and again by a diving smother from Taylor near the goal square.
With seven points the margin at three-quarter time, Hawkins kicked the Cats' first goal and suddenly there was an overwhelming sense the 2007 premiership cup would be joined by another.
St Kilda 3.2 7.7 9.11 9.14 (68)
Geelong 3.0 7.1 9.4 12.8 (80)
GOALS
St Kilda: Schneider 2, Goddard, Hayes, Koschitzke, Jones, Dempster, Riewoldt, Montagna
Geelong: Chapman 3, Mooney 2, Hawkins 2, Rooke 2, Selwood, Byrnes, Ablett
BEST
St Kilda: Gram, Hayes, Ball, Jones, Montagna, Baker, Goddard
Geelong: Chapman, Rooke, Milburn, Taylor, Selwood, Ablett, Corey, Bartel, Ling, Scarlett
INJURIES
St Kilda: Goddard (nose)
Geelong: Nil
Reports: Nil
Umpires: McBurney, Ryan, Rosebury
Official crowd: 99,251 at the MCG
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the club.
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