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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