The match, attended by 97,956 spectators, was won by Collingwood by 18 points, marking that club's 13th premiership victory, and the game has been dubbed The Miracle of '58.

It has been remembered, and studied, as a notable case of an underdog team overcoming multiple disadvantages, while ignoring much of the tactical advice it was offered by sports journalists and others.

[4] Regarded by most as an ordinary team fuelled more by old-fashioned 'G and D' than by any innate football talent, embarrassingly thrashed by Melbourne in the 2nd semi final, missing both their skipper Frank Tuck and arguably their most talented player in Bill Twomey, the Magpies entered the 1958 grand final as the longest odds outsiders for years.

The Melbourne Herald’s chief football writer Alf Brown joked that by half-time Collingwood's only hope was “to phone up the old Merrett homestead and ask for seventeen more, just like little Thorold”.

Summing up the game's lessons, Beames said: "It was obvious that pace and cleverness, at the expense of marking power, must be introduced if Collingwood is going to play better.

The Magpies were handicapped by the loss through injuries of Frank Tuck, centre-half-back Ron Kingston, half-forward Brian Dorman, and centre-man Bill Twomey.

However, more effective on the day were the somewhat more experienced tyros: Brian Beers, Graeme Fellowes, Ken Bennett, and also Ron Reeves, whose pace and anticipation in the back pocket made it difficult for Melbourne to chase down Collingwood's lead in the last quarter.

In a preview article in The Age on the morning of the grand final, Percy Beames anticipated that "The slow roving of Ken Bennett could show up badly against the speed of [Melbourne's] Frank Adams".

To compete for high marks near goal, Melbourne relied heavily on their hard-worked 198 cm ruckman Bob Johnson, who "rested" from the ruck in the forward pocket.

In the grand final, Johnson, while "resting", was opposed by another famous ruckman, Collingwood's Ray Gabelich, and the former scored only one goal.

If the inexperienced defender lost his nerve and allowed many of those kicks to spill to ground, the Melbourne rovers were likely to score heavily.

There was debate about the tactics the Magpies used to curb the creativity and strength of Melbourne's great play-maker and ball-distributor Ron Barassi.

Barassi was classed as a ruck-rover, meaning that he was significantly taller and heavier than, and almost as agile as, the small rovers whose task was to collect the ball from the ground after the ruckmen knocked it down.

Barassi, according to his entry in the Sport Australia Hall of Fame, was "revered as one of the most feared enforcers in the VFL";[21] and the Collingwood rovers Bennett and Thorold Merrett, both very lightly built, seemed vulnerable against him.

Collingwood came closer to following Beames's advice in their choice of wingmen, who were important on the broad Melbourne Cricket Ground.

[24] Contrary to several warnings that Collingwood would be exposed for lack of pace on the big ground, by the third quarter of the grand final the Ampol commentator noted that their players, "were gaining the upper hand.

Ironically, two of the most dangerous forwards, Melbourne's wily Geoff Tunbridge and Collingwood's Bill Serong were being kept goal-less, having been matched with top defenders.

Collingwood's best remaining half-back Peter Lucas and Melbourne's brilliant first-rover Ian Ridley were both injured, and replaced.

Regardless of danger, they hurled themselves recklessly into packs; fiercely blocked or met any Melbourne player attempting to break away, shepherded, backed up, lifted each other with encouragement .

[3]Beames praised the maligned Ken Bennett for restoring Collingwood's self-belief, after Melbourne had raced to a three-goal lead by quarter time.

"Two clever goals in as many minutes by Bennett, who battled his way courageously through the Melbourne defence, were the spark that set the Magpies aflame.

"[3] Victory would have lifted them straight into the grand final, and would have deluded selectors into believing in, and sticking to, that badly arranged semi-final side .

Out of that semi-final loss Collingwood gained the strength, both in team composition and in tactical application, to rise from a very ordinary side to a premiership combination.

[3]The Age listed the best players as: for COLLINGWOOD — Merrett, Fellowes, K. Turner, Delanty, Reeves, Bennett, and for MELBOURNE — Mithen, Williams, Thorogood, R. Johnson, Marquis, Brenchley.