The greatest Grand Final in AFL history
Roar Pro
By Jason Cave, 5 Feb 2009 The Crowd is a Roar Pro
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The 1970 Grand Final between old foes Carlton and Collingwood has been described as the greatest grand final in VFL/AFL history.
In this game, Collingwood were 44 points up and Carlton were woeful.
The Magpies were doing everything right, thanks to players such as Barry Price, Peter McKenna and Des Tuddenham, and were on track for ther first premiership since 1958.
The only highlight for Carlton was Alex Jesaulenko’s timeless mark over Graeme ‘Jerker’ Jenkin.
But Carlton coach Ron Barassi had other ideas. He instructed his players to handball as if their lives depended on it.
As an afterthought, Barassi replaced Bert Thornley with 19th man Ted Hopkins (there was no interchange rules in 1970).
Then everything changed.
Hopkins kicked three goals in the third quarter and Carlton players who were unsighted in the first half started coming into the game. Carlton kicked 8.0 to Collingwood’s 3.3 to be only 17 points down coming into the last quarter.
Barassi told his players at three-quarter time that, “win lose or draw, I’ll be proud of you.”
The momentum was now with the Blues.
Barassi moved skipper John Nicholls to full-forward, and Jesaulenko to centre half-forward. Nicholls scored two goals and Hopkins his fourth to reduce the margin to one point, Collingwood’s way.
Umpire Don Jolley awarded Carlton’s Brent Crosswell a free kick which put the Blues in front for the first time in the game.
Then Jesaulenko sealed the win with a long bouncing goal to complete possibly the greatest comeback in VFL-AFL history.
Ron Barassi had done it again-winning yet another premiership, but possibly his greatest performance in his coaching career.
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Forgetmenot said | February 5th 2009 @ 7:21am | Report comment
I havent watched many older Grand Finals, but out of the ones that i can remember, the Swans and West Coast ones stick out, as does last years where i think everyone was expecting Geelong to suddenly come back and beat the Hawks.
Pippinu said | February 5th 2009 @ 8:25am | Report comment
Martin Flanagan wrote a great book on this grand final, in particular, the memories of some of the players on the day. To read the memories of players in a game that is now etched in footballing folk lore is quite fascinating. One marvels at the different perceptions and recollections.
Forgetmenot
I think I recall reading that you’re not from Melbourne, so you haven’t had the pleasure of staying up all night during the grand final eve marathons where they would play all the old black and white clips of great finals games. This one got played every single year! So a few of us on the Roar have seen it many times!
Pippinu said | February 5th 2009 @ 8:32am | Report comment
Interestingly, Teddy Hopkins is best remembered for coming on in the 2nd half of this grand final and kicking 4 goals to completely change the game, but he barely played another game for Carlton again. That was definitely his 60 minutes of fame – but there are plenty of footballers who would give up all their games and individual trophies to have done what he did. It’s a funnly ol’ game.
Teddy Hopkins is now best known as the man behind Champion Data which has revolutionised the collecting of stats during an AFL game. A stack of new terminology and tactics have emerged from his stats alone. A players individual stats can be broken down from the bare kicks, marks, handballs to an absolute myriad of different components the highlight a player’s effectiveness that run into the dozens upon dozens.
For any footballing fan with a penchant for stats – it’s a veritable gold mine!
Also worth mentioning that the super coach/dreamteam comps rely heavily on these sorts of stats to calculate the points a player earns each week.
Bruce Walkley said | February 5th 2009 @ 9:17am | Report comment
The three most memorable games I have had the good fortune to attend are the 1980 GF in which Richmond slaughtered Collingwood by 81 points, 1966 when Tasmania/St Kilda won the Saints’ two flags (their first and last), and the 1967 Tasmanian State Premiership between Wynyard and North Hobart (the goalposts game, which nobody won).
Jason Cave said | February 5th 2009 @ 9:28am | Report comment
If you watched the highlights of the first half of the ’70 Grand Final, you’ll notice that Carlton in the latter stages were starting to get a share of the ball. It wasn’t showing on the scoreboard, but it did show the Blues had a massive job ahead of them. Interestingly, had Carlton lost the 1970 Grand Final, the Blues wouldn’t have reappointed Ron Barassi as coach. A couple of Carlton committeemen had decided before that game that Barassi’s contract was not to be renewed. Victory in the 1970 Grand Final helped Ron Barassi to keep his job.
Savvas Tzionis said | February 5th 2009 @ 9:47am | Report comment
Two interesting points abto uthat match.
Firstly, Collingwood’s lead of 44 points at half time was in fact reached at the 10 minute mark of the 2nd quarter. Thereafter, Carlton was able to hold them to that lead.
What many people do not realise is that Carlton made TWO comebacks in that second half. The initial burst after half time was a staggering 7 goals in 12 minutes which resulted in reducing Collingwood’s lead to 2 points!!!
However, from that point onward until just after 3 qtr time Collingwood stretched their lead once more to 23points!!
Surely the greatest game ever.
Forgetmenot said | February 5th 2009 @ 9:56am | Report comment
Pip,
Not from Melbourne, no.
had no idea that they played old GF on GF eve. I just thought that people talking about them had actually seen them, or had them on DVD etc.
Watching the old great grand finals is on my to do list. The 89′ GF was high up there, but i feel it may bring back too many memories of last year now.
Jason Cave said | February 5th 2009 @ 11:30am | Report comment
You have to feel for Collingwood coach, the late Bob Rose. If losing the 1964 Grand Final to Melbourne (4 points) and 1966 to St Kilda (1 point) was bad enough, then this loss (1970) was like death by a thousand cuts. Especially when you consider how superior Collingwood were in that first half of the 1970 grand final.
Another interesting thing came up when watching the 1970 Grand Final. Mike Williamson on Channel Seven mentioned that Channel 7 stations in Sydney, Adelaide, Perth and Canberra were taking the game ‘live’, but the ‘replay’ of the grand final were beamed into Victoria and Tasmania later that night. It is still hard to fathom why, despite the record of 121,696 people, the VFL would not allow a live telecast into Melbourne and Victoria as well. It wasn’t until 1977 that the VFL allowed a live telecast to be beamed throughout Australia.
Pippinu said | February 5th 2009 @ 2:33pm | Report comment
Jason
it’s a good point about the live television coverage.
You occasionally stumble across the odd Sydney person who mentions that that particular grand final was their introduction to aussie rules. If you’re going to see your first ever game, that one would have been as good as any.
Forgetmenot said | February 5th 2009 @ 3:12pm | Report comment
Jason,
I heard the record was probably even more than that because fences were broken down in an attempt to get into the ground. It might have had something to do with that being the only place to see the game (rather than hear it), unless you wanted to travel across the border to Adelaide.
Can you imagine not being able to see the game even if you wanted to today. There would be riots in front of AFL House.