1970 VFL Grand Final

The 1970 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Carlton Football Club and Collingwood Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 26 September 1970. It was the 74th annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League, staged to determine the premiers for the 1970 VFL season. The match was won by Carlton by a margin of 10 points, marking that club's 10th premiership victory.

This game is widely considered to be the epitome of a classic Australian Football Grand Final and the "birth" of the modern Australian game. The attendance of 121,696 represented the most spectators to have witnessed a premiership decider in VFL Grand Final history, breaking the record of 119,165 spectators who witnessed the 1969 VFL Grand Final. It remains an enduring attendance record for any VFL/AFL match.

Match summary

Carlton played poorly in the first half and many^[who?] thought the game was as good as finished by the half time siren; perhaps it could have been, had Collingwood's scoreline read more accurately than 10.13 (73). At the half-time break, Carlton trailed by 44 points.

During the break, champion Carlton coach Ron Barassi instructed his players to handball and play on at all costs, instituting a strategy to try to nullify Collingwood's long kicking game. A key positional move was the introduction of little-known Ted Hopkins, a small rover, as a substitute for Bert Thornley in the second half.^[1]

These changes were highly effective and Carlton scored seven goals to one behind in the first thirteen minutes of the third quarter, almost completely erasing Collingwood's lead. Ted Hopkins' contribution made a major contribution to the Carlton revival, highlighted by four goals. A rarely mentioned^{[by whom?]} factor was the clash of star Collingwood players Peter McKenna and Des Tuddenham in the second quarter. Peter McKenna had kicked 147 goals that season, and five in the first half, but was clearly hampered for the rest of the game.

Collingwood fought back strongly towards the end of the third quarter, leading by seventeen points at three-quarter time, and the game remained in the balance well into the final quarter. Late in the last quarter, with Carlton leading by less than a goal, Alex Jesaulenko snatched the ball on the half forward line and sent a left foot kick bouncing towards goal. With no one guarding the goals, the ball bounced through for a goal, sealing the game for Carlton. Carlton completed a recovery, to triumph by 10 points, 17.9 (111) to 14.17 (101).

The game also featured perhaps the most iconic mark in VFL/AFL history,^{[citation needed]} taken by Jesaulenko in the 28th minute of the second quarter. The mark prompted commentator Mike Williamson to make the now famous^{[citation needed]} call "Jesaulenko, you beauty!", which is frequently repeated or paraphrased today. The mark is credited^{[by whom?]} with the initiation of the Mark of the Year competition, and the medal associated with the award now carries Jesaulenko's name.

Epilogue

Collingwood were the pre-game favourites and led for most of the match. Their inability to cement the final victory led to them being dubbed with the derisive nickname "Colliwobbles" for the first time. Their next appearance in a Grand Final was in 1977, when they drew against North Melbourne and then lost the replay. After finishing runner-up a further three times (twice to Carlton – in 1979 and 1981), Collingwood finally broke through to defeat Essendon in the 1990 AFL Grand Final, ending the "Colliwobbles". Nevertheless, the nickname has continued to be used for the club when it fails to match expectations in finals.^{Note 1}

Perspective

It is often stated that the style of play displayed by Carlton in the second half, featuring frequent hand ball and open fast running play, was a precursor to the modern style of play. However, Barassi himself credits the idea to former Richmond and Fitzroy coach Len Smith. Up until then, Australian rules in Victoria had primarily been a stop-start game with players kicking forward to team mates who took a mark, stopped and kicked again, with the handball used mainly as a defensive option. In the second half of the Grand Final, Carlton played on and used more handball, moving the ball quickly and catching Collingwood players off guard, not giving them time to settle.

Although the match is justly famous for the contributions of many now-legendary players of that era, Brent Crosswell (Carlton) was contemporaneously generally regarded as the best player of the day for his four quarter contribution, especially in the first half when many Carlton players were not playing well.

Interestingly Hopkins played only one further game for Carlton, soon quitting football to pursue other interests.

The 44-point half-time deficit overcome by Carlton was then the second-largest half-time deficit ever overcome in VFL history. The only larger deficit overcome before this was 52 points, by Collingwood against St Kilda in Round 10 of the same year (which remains the record today).^[2]

Teams

Umpire – Don Jolley

Result

See also

• 1970 VFL season
• Colliwobbles

Notes

1.^ The Grand Finals that Collingwood lost before during the Colliwobbles era were in 1960/64 against Melbourne and 1966 against St Kilda.

References

External links

• For a more detailed statistical analysis of this match, read the report "Handball, Handball, Handball!" at www.fullpointsfooty.net
• 1970 Grand Final report from Blueseum.org
• Recollections of the 1970 Grand Final from the Herald Sun
• More recollections from the Herald Sun